Re: Sierra Rattlesnakes
Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 3:55 pm
Hi, I've also encountered many rattle snakes in the Sierra and elsewhere. Usually when I'm least expecting them. When I'm looking out for them, I almost never see any. Go figure... My highest encounter was at about 9000 feet which seems to agree with many other posters.
I was coming down from Mt. Hooper via the Tombstone heading for the Double Meadow area to pick up the trail back to Florence Dam. I'd stopped to eyeball the steep slope ahead and plan a route through the dry brush on the south facing slope high above the San Joaquin River. A moment after I'd stopped, I heard a loud hissss coming from the ground near my feet. With my skin crawling and the hair on my neck sticking up, my muscles froze and tried to look down at my feet by just moving my eyes. At that moment another hissss came- louder than before. I flexed my knees and pushed off in a world record-breaking broad jump. I landed about 5 or 6 feet down hill from my previous stance and whorled around to see what had been at my feet. It was shockingly huge. I don't remember the dimensions, but it was far larger that nearly every other snake I'd ever seen... very fat with dark coloring that almost matched the ground. I watched as it moved slowly into a hole in the ground upon which I'd been standing. As it moved, it's rattle wagged slowly back and forth in the air- too slowly to make a sound. This was in July or August, so I don't think it was in a hibernation state; I got the impression from looking at it that it was just very old. "Sorry about standing on your house. Thanks for not biting me," I muttered under my breath. When it finally disappeared into the ground, I continued my journey. Getting back to my car at Florence Dam took much longer than I'd originally planned, since I was now checking and double checking every rock, branch and shadow that were within 4 or 5 feet of my path for snakes. Of course, now that I was checking for them, I didn't see a single one for the rest of the day.
I was coming down from Mt. Hooper via the Tombstone heading for the Double Meadow area to pick up the trail back to Florence Dam. I'd stopped to eyeball the steep slope ahead and plan a route through the dry brush on the south facing slope high above the San Joaquin River. A moment after I'd stopped, I heard a loud hissss coming from the ground near my feet. With my skin crawling and the hair on my neck sticking up, my muscles froze and tried to look down at my feet by just moving my eyes. At that moment another hissss came- louder than before. I flexed my knees and pushed off in a world record-breaking broad jump. I landed about 5 or 6 feet down hill from my previous stance and whorled around to see what had been at my feet. It was shockingly huge. I don't remember the dimensions, but it was far larger that nearly every other snake I'd ever seen... very fat with dark coloring that almost matched the ground. I watched as it moved slowly into a hole in the ground upon which I'd been standing. As it moved, it's rattle wagged slowly back and forth in the air- too slowly to make a sound. This was in July or August, so I don't think it was in a hibernation state; I got the impression from looking at it that it was just very old. "Sorry about standing on your house. Thanks for not biting me," I muttered under my breath. When it finally disappeared into the ground, I continued my journey. Getting back to my car at Florence Dam took much longer than I'd originally planned, since I was now checking and double checking every rock, branch and shadow that were within 4 or 5 feet of my path for snakes. Of course, now that I was checking for them, I didn't see a single one for the rest of the day.