'Hey little kitty, go away': Jogger has tense stand-off with California mountain lion as it blocks his path for five minutes

Talk about heart-pounding exercise. 

A man out for a morning jog on a California trail nearly came face-to-face with a mountain lion that wandered into his path earlier this month. 

The incident, which the man captured on camera, occurred on November 2 in Trabuco Canyon, California.  

The video starts with the man jogging along the path, accompanied by the sound of birds.

A man out for a jog along a California trail came to a screeching halt when he came face-to-face with a mountain lion that ambled into his path

After a few moments, the man stops running as he spots an animal in the distance, heading his way. 

'Oh, it's a coyote coming,' he says, as the camera zooms in on the animal as it wends its way towards him. 

Seconds later, the man realizes his zoological error. 

'Oh s**t, that's a mountain lion,' he says, before trying to shoo it away with a 'Hey little kitty, go away.' 

Instead of retreating, the mountain lion holds its ground, staring in the man's direction. 

As the man's efforts to get the animal to go away fail, he narrates: 'I'll back up, slowly.' 

The man said the standoff with the mountain lion, which sat in the middle of the trail, lasted about five minutes. The animal was eventually distracted by something and wandered off

In response, the mountain lion sits down in the middle of the path. 

Man and beast remain in their respective positions for a while, until the mountain lion's attention is drawn by something in the distance. Eventually, the animal stands and pads away. 

'Good boy, go home,' the man says. 'Oh god, thank you.' 

The man later told ViralHog that the standoff had lasted more than five minutes before the mountain lion turned around and walked off. 

The National Park Service recommends that people should stay calm when encountering a mountain lion, remain upright and either hold their ground or back away slowly. 

They warn against approaching the mountain lion, squatting down - to pick something up - or running away.