Cascabel... Rattlesnake!

Lori gasped in horror and her body jerked back towards me. I was behind her and reflexively grabbed Lori's hands and stared towards what had frightened the bejeebies out of her. Right there on the path, coiled up in a tight little bun, lay the ubiquitous rattlesnake... the one I have been telling everyone we hike with to watch out for, but have never actually seen with my own eyes. I knew it!

What is even more frightening is that Diane, in the lead, had just unknowingly stepped right over the   viper. Lori let go of my hands and instinctively sacheted around it leaving the snake now between me and my two friends. I hadn't moved an inch yet my heart was beating like I was running a marathon. What was that again that I'm supposed to do when I see a snake? Oh yeah, stay very still and don't make any sudden movements. So, I swallowed my heart back down into my chest and resisted the urge to run.

(That's me in the photo) Thankfully, Senior Snake took a moment to decide which direction he wanted to go and headed off to hide under a rock. As my mother told me many times, rattlesnakes are usually very shy and are not aggressive. He also must not have felt too terribly threatened because he never showed any warning signs, like shaking his rattle at us. Instead, he chose to hide. Diane, Lori and I interrupted his sunbathing when we happened upon him during a morning hike on Isla San Marcos. We were all fortunate that we didn't step on him; he was catching a few rays smack dab in the middle of the path.

When Diane collected herself enough, she took these stunning photos. He really is a tremendously beautiful snake. Look at the black bands near his rattles! He is probably close to 9 years old by the number of rattles that he has. We're still not sure the species, so I've written a friend of mine to determine which species it is and if it's endangered or not. No need to confirm if it's poisonous... it is.