furtech | Devil's Canyon- Aieeeee!!!

I thought about, "Snakes...why did it have to be snakes..." or, "Snakes on a Trail," but "Aieee!!!" fits the situation better.

Devilscanyonsnakes

Here’s the complete Flickr set

We have been hiking Devil's Canyon for decades and the only rattlesnakes we've seen were babies: little snakes about the size of a long pencil. They were laying across the trail and somewhat torpid, so we scooted them off with a stick and went on our way.

Yesterday we went down into the canyon and Roz suddenly says, "Stop." I freeze and see a medium-sized rattlesnake laying across the trail. R0ndo had already passed by or over the snake (gasp!), but I held Apache back. The snake moved off the trail while we waited patiently in gestures of mutual self-preservation. While Roz held the dogs, I took some pictures of the now-coiled and rattling snake in the bushes off the trail. I marked the trail with a branch so we could watch out for her on our way back.

The canyon was as dry as I've ever seen it: there were only a few murky pools left. Even the stone pools where we get frog-spawn were bone-dry. Another thing I noticed: there had been a recent rock fall. Right above the pools a large boulder was left balanced precariously on its two pointed ends. Must watch out for that when we come back next year.

On the way back the dogs splashed around in the one large pool of water while Roz got some water plants. We took special care to watch out for the snake we'd encountered earlier, with me walking ahead with a long stick and my friend and the dogs following. Happily, she had left. Still, with the dogs so close to a serious injury, I was -very- tense.

Well past the snake-spot we started to relax. Dogs off-leash again. I looked down as Apache trotted past me and saw something that re-ignited my fears: a HUGE rattlesnake beside the trail, only a foot from where Apache had just passed. I let out an inarticulate cry of warning. The sound was identical to the ones our ancestors made when they were still in trees: a loud, gutteral "hugaahkg" kind of warning. Fortunately, the snake was fast asleep (which is hard to tell with those lidless eyes!). I yelled at the dogs to stay back. Roz had figured out by the noise what had happened.

I took some pictures while Roz and the dogs waited some distance away . I wanted a size reference, so I tossed a penny near the snake...correction: ON the snake! D’oh! Imagine my horror. Luckily, he didn't stirr-- I think he was sleeping off a meal. I wish I was that skillful at the county fair coin-tosses

After all this, I'm pretty sure Devil's Canyon is off our hiking list for the foreseeable future. In addition, the new condo's being constructed at the trailhead make getting into the canyon difficult. We were very lucky.

Here's a short video I made of the first, angry rattlesnake: