Snakes, Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?

May 26, 2020

Snakes, Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?

When you think of Oregon, what comes to mind? Maybe rainy weather, dark skies, green terrain full of trees and woods. I can tell you what I don't think of, snakes, specifically rattlesnake. Because we are in a place that is known for it's beautiful woods, we went out hiking several times. Most recently we had family friends come quarantine with us. So we looked for the best trails. The first trail we choose was 9 miles that went from red woods, to rocky mountainside, to almost desert. It was gorgeous surrounded by green ferns, trees and the Rogue River viewable from between the leaves. When I hike I get in my head, reality slips away as I create my own and my feet carry me through the woods. So, when I heard a loud scream from behind me, I jumped so hard I tasted the bug spray in my mouth from earlier.

"Damn! What happened?"

The scream had come from my mom who had seen a long dark brown snake from inside a log. Harmless and in no way dangerous to us. I rolled my eyes as every good teen should do and scolded my mom for scaring me over nothing. After seeing the snake, we discussed the possibility of rattlesnakes, but I quickly dismissed the notion considering it was rainy Oregon. We continued on our way and I went back into my mind. We passed through a mountainside of beautiful flowers where the trees had turned bare from a past fire. After that point the trail had turned into a more rocky terrain that I was accustomed to seeing in desert California. Since the path wasn't covered, we saw the backpackers from far off and made room on the path (cuz social distancing). When they passed they said the one thing to make my heart drop.

"Be careful of Rattlers."

"Have you seen any?" Asked my mom

"Oh yeah."

Now, anyone who knows me, knows I hate snakes. So the idea of a deadly snake that could come from anywhere terrified me. As we continued it was all I could think of, every noise (and there were a lot of noises) made me jump. Finally I had began to relax, the three of us were chatting about life, but that's when I heard it. I heard and within a millisecond saw it. The shshshsh of the rattle and the light brown sandy color of the body. I released a quick breath and quickly backed up pushing my mom behind me until we were a good 50 ft away. My breaths continued in quick succession as my body shook from the shock. The volume of the rattle only increased as the rattlesnake hissed at us, clearly unhappy to be disturbed. My mother went forward a little to check where it was and maybe get a picture, but the snake was faced towards us and she didn't want to risk it. There was no service so if anything had happened there would be no way to know. The placement of the rattler made it so we couldn't continue on the path and turned back, there had only been a mile left so we didn't miss much. Walking back was rough, I was extremely jumpy. I do not like snakes and running into a rattlesnake was an experience I never wanted.

Now that experience was more than enough snake I needed to see in the wild. However, life doesn't work that way. The next day back on the trails we went. Granted we chose a coastal trail where no rattlers would be. This hike was brutal for me, I don't like walking on sand and much of the hike was on sand. The trail was gorgeous though, where there was forrest it was looming. The trees in some areas came together at the top forming tunnels between them. It was straight out of a fantasy movie. While I was unworried about rattlesnakes, I was still on the lookout for other slithery guys. Unfortunately I wasn't doing a good enough job. In an especially wooded area I didn't watch myself step and only saw a withering little body under my foot. I quickly jumped forward and let out a little exclamation. When I looked back I found I had stepped on a little brown and yellow snake. He was tiny and I felt terrible that I had hurt the little guy. When my mom side stepped around him, he tried to lunge his little body at her, his mouth fully open. Luckily he was too small to cause any damage to us. I apologized to him and we continued on our way. When we walked past the spot again, he was no where to be found. While I felt bad hurting the little guy, I am seriously done with snakes. That rattler still had me shaken and checking the sheets before I sleep. While I am terrified I will never let that fear hold me back. Quite like Indian Jones, while snakes scare the crap out of me, I will continue to explore and go on adventures.