Western Rattlesnake
| The Western can reach lengths slightly over 4 feet, but 2 1/2 feet is
more the norm. This rattlesnake ranges in the mountain woodlands and grasslands
all the way up to elevations as high as 11,000 feet. It is a dark snake,
sometimes almost black in color, with dark oval blotches on its back,
and is lighter on its underside. Specimens living at higher elevations
can be almost completely black with only a slight hint of patterning. Photo Courtesy of Bradford Hollingsworth |
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I Had an Interesting Encounter With a Western Rattlesnake
While running in the Angeles Forest back in the summer of 1994, I was
leading a group of runners up a very steep trail at about 7,000 feet.
It was about 7:30 in the morning so the sun was still rising and the shadows
of tree trunks were long and dark. As I stepped from the bright sunlight
into one of those dark shadows, I looked down and realized my left foot
had settled on the trail about six inches from the mouth of a Western
Rattlesnake. The snake's dark color, almost totally black, made it very
hard to see in the shadow of a towering pine. The snake was coiled tightly
and resembled a "cowpie" about 15 inches in diameter. The snake's head
was resting on its coils and looking right at the inside of my ankle.
There was nothing for me to do but to cry out to my friends, "Rattlesnake,"
and continue forward in hope of divine intervention. I remember distinctly
how time seemed to stand still as my right foot left the ground behind
me and passed over the snake before finding good footing on the trail
above. This process seemed like an eternity, where in I was trapped in
the constant expectation of that snake's fangs sinking into my leg. Once
my right foot was planted above the snake, I had hope. It was then and
only then that was I able to lift my left foot from the trail and swing
it forward to a safer place on the trail above. To this day I have no
idea why that snake never bit me, but I have thanked him many times in
my thoughts. The rest of our group detoured around the snake, and although
he raised his head and showed some interest, he never rattled. That turned
out to be a fortuitous beginning to another day in paradise.
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