Snake on the Trail!
After decades of hiking, we had our first experience with a snake on the trail. It was a Diamondback rattlesnake with 8 or 9 buttons and was somewhere between 10 and three feet long. It had assumed the classic rattlesnake posture, coiled up with head raised and tail rattling, almost dead center of the trail Fred, the “kids” and I were hiking. Our first reaction was disbelief then we immediately pulled the dogs up close to us and slowly backed away. That snake uncurled itself and headed for a patch of tall grass.
One lesson for us was wildlife is just afraid of us as we are of them and, also, we had gotten lax when hiking. Our encounter with that snake was a reminder that we should always be alert and conscience of the many and varied threats one can encounter on the trail.
Things we must remember about snakes are:
1. Hiking boots and long pants offer some protection when hiking in an area with snakes.
2. Snakes often lie below fallen logs, especially if it is sunny there. The good method for avoiding accidentally stepping on a snake is to step on the log, look down and then, if no snake is present, step down.
3. Do not sit down for a rest without first checking the area. Do not lean on fallen trees or rocks without first checking them well.
4. Likewise, do not put your hand into a crevice or hollow log, on a pile of rocks, or reach under a bush without first investigating.
5. Avoid hiking in tall grass.
6. Avoid any snake you see. They know you are too big to be dinner and will strike out only in defense.
A summer progresses, we hope you, along with us, will hike often and always safely.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 3:10 am and is filed under camping, Forest Service, Hiking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 21st, 2010 at 6:15 am
We've had a few encounters with snakes over the years.
We had our second encounter with a rattler last year in Mesa Verde near the campground on Knifes Edge Trail, which I wrote about in a post titled, simply,
rattler.
Our first encounter was a Badlands National park in South Dakota in August 2007. This one was quite a bit more unnerving as it was relatively short trail with a mommy and a child on the trail:
Mommy!… Look at me!
Even more scary, though, was an encounter with a copperhead on the Rim Trail of Mount Nebo State Park near here in Arkansas. It was on a rock along the trail about head level as we were climbing a set of rock stairs.
In the Ouachita National Forest south of there, we were walking a small trail from the Spring Lake campground to the swimming area back in the late 80s when Karen was startled by a small green snake on a branch close to her head.
We'll be hiking the trails this summer — just like always.
July 2nd, 2010 at 7:22 pm
We had snakes all over Tucson Arizona where I spent the last fifteen years. Camp hosting now in Central Coast California and have only seen a couple non-poisonous snakes. I like the change. If you have a minute, come on over and visit my two blogs: A Camp Host Housewife’s Meanderings and Levonne’s Pretty Pics. Thanks.
July 11th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
My experience with rattlers on narrow trails is that if I stand at a safe distance and sprinkle water on them, they crawl away, possibly looking for cover from an approaching storm. The only problem is trying to throw enough water to simulate incipient rain rather than hitting them with a big blob that makes them suspect another cause—I’ve been lucky so far.