To put things into perspective of the rarity of cougar sightings.
In 2018, my son, myself and a coworker were close to finishing up an 80 mile day on trails and dusty roads up in Canada. As we reached the top of Cabin Pass, we were pretty quiet as it was hot, dusty and we had pushed hard. We were riding into a moderate headwind right at the peak when all of the sudden a mountain lion jumped up out of the grass about 15' away and took off down the mountainside. Friends of mine from that area have been riding for decades up there and have never seen one.
But in 2017, my friend Bonnie was coming over Galton Pass and had one stare her down on the trail for a few minutes.