Yeah it's going to be a great season indeed. Had two rattler encounters this week, note that one of them was in a bush waist height. First time I've ever seen one sitting on top of sagebrush like that. Be careful and good luck everyone
On TOP of the bush? Hmmph...who knew!
Reminds me of this one time I inadvertently went off trail on these switch-backs... so decided I was going to instead pioneer upward in a straight line to catch back up with the line of the trail above me.
Big mistake. It was steep... traction was such a challenge, and, I'd forgotten my boots that day (yeah, I know, this was very early in the beginning, not to be repeated) so was just in running shoes. So already my feet were quite a bit sore anyway. Had to step on the backs of little patches of the grasses to get enough traction to ascend...
Then... ugh... great...just above me at my eye-level... freakin' baby rattler sounds off!!!
I'm sittin here already dying from the exertion of trying to pioneer up this damn hill... and then this little MF'r gets in the way... so I had to stand still... on this incredibly steep hill... my calves and ankles were already burning... and from the having to stand still... OMG was starting to quiver from the strain... and that freakin' little baby rattler was too scared so he stayed still and coiled up like FOREVER!!!
Wasn't long and I'm all over here like "Goo...!!! God just Goooooo already!!!! Go on... you're fine!... no ones gonna hurt you!!" OMG... he must have taken like..I dunno 5 minutes before he finally slinked off far enough to one side that I could dare try to then continue going up. The strain on my calves and ankles and lowerback to hold like that without moving on such a steep angle was killing me!! But I didn't dare move since he was like within maybe 1 or 2 body-lengths of my face when I came upon him.
Oh yeah... and as if that wasn't enough... I swear..no lie... I get up to the other line of the trail... the younger dude I was with watched all this go down and came down a little to help me because I became so spent from standing soo long on that insane angle... we get up to the trail line.. hike a lil bit further to find a more flat looking spot in the shade (did I mention it was like 90+F still even as last light was maybe 45min away?) ... so I go to sit down and chug some water and let me body chill for a sec before proceeding, then OWWW!!! Lil Bastard Fire Ant Bites Me! In my tired state I'd unknowingly sat sorta near to where they were coming out of a hole like they do. But the hole wasn't quite in the open dirt line of the trail, so I didn't see it.
So yeah man... definitely not a good feeling seeing one at eye level with you!
