I was out with a group camping in the mountains of New Mexico . Me and my brother went to fill these two water containers down by a stream about a five minute walk from our site . It was about 600 . The stream was only wide enough for is to fill one jug at a time . My brother had filled his first . Our group wanted water ASAP to start cooking dinner . My brother went to return his jug and left me filling mine . The sun had started setting when I heard the brush rustling . I figured it was just a chipmunk , as we had been seeing them all week . The rustling persisted , and I heard a low growl . I realized that we were in mountain lion country , and they hunted at dawn and dusk . It had just gotten dark . I sealed my jug that was only 34 full , and noticed a furry paw stick out from underneath the treeline . I walked away extremely briskly back to the site . I know mountain lions stalk their prey before attacking , and do so to seemingly weak prey when they are either weakest or aware of the lion . I did not run as to not alarm my stalker , but was carrying a gallon and a half of water so I was walking a little awkwardly . I was only about fifteen at the time , but I made it back to site without any surprises on the way back . TLDR was stalked by a mountain lion during the time they hunt most often .