COEUR d’ALENE — As dusk flushed into daylight Tuesday morning, Gloria Waggoner saw a mountain lion cross a street near Sanders Beach as she headed there for a swim.

Waggoner, a North Idaho resident of almost 30 years who is also an avid hiker and swim club member, knew immediately she was seeing a cougar near one of downtown Coeur d’Alene’s most populous and well-used parks.

“I did see clearly a cougar on Tubbs Hill this morning,” she said. “It was a medium-size cougar with a long tail, a cat body.”

It was the second cougar reported in the greater Coeur d’Alene area this month.

She followed the lion in her car as it crossed through a yard near Ash and 12th Street and then ambled over the parking lot on the east side of Tubbs, where she waited because an early-morning hiker with his dog was coming down the trail.

She made sure the hiker made it safely to his car before she notified what authorities were available so early on a Tuesday morning.

But before driving away, Waggoner and the cat paused to survey each other.

“It went up the hill about 20 yards, and it looked at me, and I looked at it from the safety of my car,” Waggoner said.

A representative from Idaho Fish and Game advised her if she decided to hike Tubbs Tuesday to carry bear spray.

She wanted others to hear the advice because Tubbs, she said, seems a safe place where bear spray isn’t considered part of a hiker’s checklist.

“I certainly wouldn’t normally pack it on Tubbs Hill,” she said.

Wildlife biologist Kara Campbell of Fish and Game said the cat is likely a young animal passing through as it looks for a place to reside. It isn’t uncommon for younger cats to visit urban areas looking for an easy meal such as city deer, pets, or pet food left outside. They usually don’t stay long before moving on. Another cougar was filmed running through a neighborhood on Rude Street in Dalton Gardens five miles north of Tubbs Hill earlier this month.

The city of Coeur d’Alene issued an advisory Tuesday afternoon to hikers on Tubbs Hill that warned of a wild cat in the area and offered advice on lion encounters:

Face the cat, make yourself look large, back away, do not run, stay calm, make noise and fight back if the cat attacks, according to the advisory.