Mountain Lion Charlie was a real person. Those few who were fortunate to know him and those who heard hand-me-down tales romanced his deeds unnecessarily. Charlie’s truths are more than sufficient. A mountain of a man, his life began in the late eighteen hundreds and extended through almost three quarters of the twentieth century. His is far different from the typical mountain man tales. There is little typicalness in Charlie’s story. Born in the wilderness, raised in the wilderness like no other, he became truly one with its wild inhabitants, his beloved mountains and above all their spirit. His personal unique existence abounded in adventure. A walking legend in elusive solitude that from the continent-long Rockies to the majestic High Sierra, inhospitable deserts and badlands to inaccessible mountain tops he mysteriously came and went, rarely retracing his steps. Stride for stride, mile by mile no man’s moccasin prints ever trekked more land or blazed new trails. This is his story, from birth to his disappearance.
