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Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:51 pm
by East Side Hiker
If I have my facts right, and I might not, I believe there's only about 50 rattlesnake bites a year in the U.S. And, in most cases of those bitten, alcohol was involved.

Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 9:38 pm
by quentinc
Yup. Those damn snakes just can't handle liquor.

Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:27 pm
by Cloudy
I've been through Simpson Meadow quite a few times and haven't seen a rattler yet. I don't doubt that they're there but the stars didn't align for a meeting - although I admit that I did have my one treasured encounter with a mountain lion in the Simpson Meadow area. I have however run into rattlers multiple times on the Bubbs Creek and Copper Creek trails. I was pounding downhill on the Copper Creek trail with a heavy pack, came around a corner and my very next step was going to be on a large rattler coiled up on the trail! Erk! Doh! I couldn't stop in time so I threw myself over the downhill edge of the trail and slid aways... Dodged the bullet on that one. The largest rattler that I have seen to date was in (of all places) Giant Forest.

Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:33 am
by TehipiteTom
quentinc wrote:Yup. Those damn snakes just can't handle liquor.
That's because they don't have opposable thumbs.

Or thumbs (or hands or arms) at all, for that matter.

Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:37 pm
by richlong8
Domelands Wilderness is a great place to see rattlesnakes!

Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 5:51 pm
by texan
Your right about Domeland Wilderenss and rattlesnakes. Another area is the Greenhorn Mountains which is close by. When I was kid we used to fish that area and I always saw rattlesnakes all the time.

Texan

Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:17 am
by vandman
I've been to Tehipite 3 times and have seen quite a few rattlesnakes. They give plenty of warning, so it wasn't a problem. The Monarch Wilderness just west of Tehipite is loaded with them. I day hiked from Tehipite down the Middle Fork and up into the side canyons and saw maybe 6 or 7 on that hike. They were curled up on boulders. I didn't bother them and they ignored me after a little shake of their button. Just be careful jumping from boulder to boulder. I was more freaked out by the revelation that there are Black Widows in Tehipite Valley, which I discovered on my third journey under rocks and downed trees.

Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:20 pm
by Cloudy
Lol. I have a dose of Arachnophobia and we get quite a few Black Widows in the middle of my small town. I live in an apartment and have had two large ones crawl under my screen door and set up shop in my home - discovered by reaching for a shoe in the shelf by the door and hitting that unmistakeable web. I regularly kill 8-10 every two weeks around my friend's house (in town) during the summer and got one the other night in the garage. Yikes! I never see this many "in the wild"...

Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:31 pm
by Cross Country
That's really something. I'm sure I've seen more rattlesnakes than black widows and I live is Los Angeles.

Re: Rattlesnakes in Tehipite Valley

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:09 pm
by richlong8
We get plenty of widows in Bakersfield, but have to head to the hills to see snakes; haven't been to Tephite, but from what I have heard and read, it is full of bugs, no matter what time of year you go