We were having coffee one morning recently with a fellow at Kenny Lake Mercantile, which is just up the road from Chitina.

Honestly, he struck me as someone who liked to tell tales to out-of-staters. But he was sane enough to hold an Alaska Driver's License, I'm sure.

While illuminating us with the true Exxon Valdez story and other great snows of the past, he noted with satisfaction that there were, in fact, mountain lions in the Copper River Valley.

Any of you locals heard that one?

Not that one Jeff, but have heard rumors of lions in Homer area and Cooper Landing.

A friend spotted a lion mountain in Homer. For them to get there, at some point they would have had to made their way there and I'm thinking would have gone through the Copper River Valley.

I have no doubt there are critters that aren't normally considered to inhabit Alaska that occasionally make their way here.

IF it was CD McCurry then he has a pictures of one on the Old Edgerton. They get through once in a while but Wolves get them.
They have mule deer and even an occasional White tail deer that gets through.

There are some strange ducks in Kenny Lake so you could hear all matters of weird stuff from the crowd that hangs around Mercantile and not really pay attention.

Silver Lake Lodge, however, was a whole different kind of place. There were some pretty tough characters hanging around that place.

Rick Bin spotted a beachful one morning on Kodiak... hard to know what the deer looked like through the single malt haze...