A pair of backpackers recently got a jolt when they came face-to-face with a mountain lion. It was a heart-stopping encounter that they caught on video.

Brian McKinney and Sam Vonderheide were hiking Californias Sequoia National Forest late last month when they spotted the big cat standing on the path ahead of them.

It was a mountain lion, Vonderheide told his companion. But McKinney wasnt sure.

I wasnt a believer but started my video just in case, he later wrote on Facebook , in a post sharing the two-minute video .