BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, Texas | &#8220;Excuse me, did you see a lion?&#8221;</p><p><em>That</em> was a question I hadn&#8217;t been asked before.</p><p>But the woman in the floppy hat was serious. She and her male companion were headed toward the Window, a popular hiking destination where the Chisos Mountains meet the Chihuahuan Desert. I was about halfway back on the 2 1/2 -mile trail, and my mind was more focused on the lunch in my backpack than on mountain lions.</p><p>&#8220;No, I haven&#8217;t seen anything,&#8221; I told her. &#8220;Not even a lizard.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Oh, good,&#8221; she said.</p><p>They continued on their way, and I continued on mine. But I</p><p>knew she had seen the sign warning about lions &#8212; the one that said: &#8220;A lion has been frequenting this area and could be aggressive toward humans.&#8221;</p><p>Big Bend National Park sprawls across more than 800,000 acres of Far West Texas. Rugged mountain peaks look out over sweeping stretches of desert. Limestone cliffs rise precipitously over the green waters of the Rio Grande separating Texas from Mexico. Adobe ruins pay testimony to the ranches of the Old West.</p><p>And, it turns out, mountain lions and black bears roam among the deer, javelina and hikers.</p><p>I didn&#8217;t tell the couple on the trail that I was almost certain I had seen a lion the previous evening &#8212; or the back half of one slinking into tall grass near the Chisos Mountains Lodge.</p><p>&#8220;What else might have had such a long tail?&#8221; I had asked the desk clerk.</p><p>&#8220;What color was it?&#8221; she asked.</p><p>I didn&#8217;t know. It was dark.</p><p>Then it probably <em>was </em>a mountain lion, she said. Some had been spotted in the area recently.</p><p>I also didn&#8217;t tell the hikers how much I had been thinking about lions as I hiked alone along the Window Trail. As I trudged among prickly pear cacti and Torrey yuccas, I listened intently and kept my eyes focused not only at the Chisos Mountain peaks ahead but also on the rocky path at my feet.</p><p>If a mountain lion or black bear were lurking, I wanted to know about it. Scat along the trail would be a good clue.</p><p>I didn&#8217;t know exactly what bear or mountain lion droppings looked like, but I could tell that some wild creature had been sharing this trail with me.</p><p>&#8220;That probably came from a coyote,&#8221; the ranger back at the Chisos Basin visitor center told me later. &#8220;Mountain lion and bear scat is much bigger.&#8221;</p><p>Well, thanks. Suddenly my hike didn&#8217;t seem so adventurous. After all, it&#8217;s one thing to go back home and tell your friends you&#8217;ve been hiking among lions and bears. But <em>coyotes</em>?</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Back for another look</span></strong></p><p>Few hikers on the Chisos Mountain trails see a mountain lion or bear, the ranger said. But some do, and park rangers log reported sightings.</p><p>Big Bend is home to about two dozen mountain lions, she said, and 15 to 18 black bears. But most of them were denned up in the winter.</p><p>Wild animals aren&#8217;t the reason for hiking the Window View Trail anyway. The view at the end is the draw.</p><p>After descending about 800 feet over a couple of miles, the trail winds along a creek and through a shady canyon, then ends abruptly &#8212; at a 200-foot dropoff.</p><p>I edged down over a couple of big rocks to get a closer look and a better picture. But the rocks can be slippery, and I didn&#8217;t need to get too close to appreciate the beauty &#8212; or the foolhardiness &#8212; of getting too near the edge. What a view: The canyon walls frame a perfect window overlooking a desert that reaches beyond the horizon.