I remember seeing a long green diamond pattern snake along the edge of the trail, shaded slightly by the grass.
However, this memory was not apparent until after I lept up and ran forward in some strange toe prancing dance motion. The rattler sound engaged almost immediately. Although, I think it was the sudden touching of what felt like a live wire bustling around my feet, is what really shot me into the air. The rattling sound immediately confirmed the dangerous presence of a rattlesnake.
Oh my God, Oh my God as I ran forward. Knees prancing high and toes barely touching the ground. If you have heard of how to react when in the presence of a rattlesnake. All that flies out the window, encountering a rattlesnake puts you in a reactionary state. Certainly no time to think of how to handle the situation. My spontaneous leaping and running prance saved the day for me. If you ever encounter a rattlesnake, hopefully you will have a similar positive outcome.
The real reason for this blog post is to let folks know that there has been a recent sighting of a rattlesnake on the Mad Creek Trail.
I was out for a quick evening hike. On my way back down around 7 pm. I encountered the rattle snake approximately 100 yards below the first gate, August 13th 2021. Perhaps the snake was out for some late afternoon sun, who knows. Once I got about 15 feet away from the snake I stopped and turned around to check it out. It was a nice looking green tinted snake with the distinguished diamond pattern. Rather large, I would say around 3' and perhaps 3" in girth at the widest. Once home I quickly looked up rattlesnakes and I believe this snake was a Mojave type; although, I'm certainly not a snake expert.
Funny part of this encounter is that this was a first of a series of strange animal behaviors for the next 18 hours for me. Back at the farm, my horse had a strange cough and runny nose, as though he stuck his nose in something. He was fine in the morning. I was awakened during the night by the sound of a howling, barking type noise, perhaps a fox. This barking went on for sometime before I was able to fall a sleep again. It was close by. My cat would not come in as he usually does, instead stayed out that night. Early in the morning the cat made a most unusual growling meow sound to come in. Then immediately sprang up into a high closet space and did not make a presence at his cat food bowl as he normally does in the morning.
