Video of mountain lion stalking hiker goes viral

In a horrifying encounter caught on camera, a man was stalked by a mountain lion during a hike in the US state of Utah.

Jared Smith was hiking along the Broads Fork Trail when he first spotted the wild cat.

In an interview, Smith shared how the cougar suddenly appeared and was within 20-30 feet from him. “I was running back down the trail and was probably about a mile from getting back to the parking lot when I heard something off to the side of the trail,” he said.

Though Smith was petrified, he tried to remain calm and back away from the animal. However, the mountain lion continued to follow for over five minutes.

The video of the encounter has gone viral since it was shared by Smith.

Almost after five minutes, the animal left the trail. “It was about five minutes into the encounter that she just veered off to the side of the trail and I continued to back up for another minute or two, continuing to talk because I couldn’t see where she went off to,” Smith said. Once sure that the animal was no longer close to him, Smith immediately started running away from the spot.

While the incident left Smith rattled, he told the news website that it isn’t going to stop him from going on the trail again. “I definitely will take a few days to process this before I got back, but I love it too much. I realize this is really uncommon.