I left a message today with Brad Burns ( USFS ) today about the sailboat and left another message with the USFS person who deals with their grazing permits ( which there are currently none ) about my experience yesterday with the cattle. I also left a message with the BLM person who deals with their grazing permits including the one ( Round Mountain ) where these particular cattle are supposed to be contained within.
Ibcalrr, regarding what you stated above, " there are not a lot of things to climb or hide behind ", in the area where these cattle were following me there was literally nothing of any sort to get behind if the cattle might have become more aggressive. I first opened my umbrella ( brightly colored ) and moved toward them shouting a bit and that halted them for about 20 seconds. Then I thought maybe my brightly colored umbrella was more like the red cloth the bullfighters wave infront of the bull in bullfights to get them to charge :-) So I put it away since after they initially saw it they didn't seem to scared of it after that. I walked at a brisk pace to get myself back to my truck and its saftey as these cattle following me just kept getting bolder and closer.
I hike at times to the springs with my daughters and I wouldn't want them to have been in that position ( what if a bull charged ). Like you Ibcallrr I thought the cattle when I passed them first would just go on grazing as I hiked on my way. The cattle were especially interested in my truck ( its red ). There is an old corral out in that area and when I arrived earlier in the morning there was a man repairing part of the fencing of the corral. Since the BLM person told me that this Round Mountain grazing allotment is up at the end of March, maybe the rancher rounds up the cattle into that corral and load them into a large trailer for moving them since there is a loading ramp at this corral. I told the BLM and the USFS in my messages to them that I thought the rancher shouldn't get to graze their cattle in these allotments if they can't keep them in the allotment areas.