Mountain lion spends day lounging in tree at Garden of the Gods

COLORADO SPRINGS — A mountain lion spent a lazy Saturday lounging in the branches of a cottonwood tree last weekend as hundreds of people explored the sandstone pillars of Garden of the Gods, one of the state’s busiest parks.

While lion sightings are nothing new in the western foothills here, glimpsing one during the day in a park that attracts 4 million people a year is “extremely rare,” the park officials say. The park said Thursday it plans to warn guests to be on the lookout, though there’s unlikely to be a repeat midday visit.

“I think this is probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Anna Cordova, Garden of the Gods interim manager and city archaeologist, said. The park’s senior ranger, who has patrolled Garden of the Gods for more than a decade, said…