Seriously, what is up with the rattlesnakes this summer? I've seen at least five, and I'm not tryin'.
These two lovely specimens were in Little Santa Anita canyon today. The first one was near water, in the shade. It moved out of our way, and then coiled, but didn't rattle. The second one also tried to escape us, but couldn't find a good spot, so it was a combo of movement (away) and rattling.
saw one on the trail that goes from sunset ridge to millard canyon wednesday. In the middle of the trail. Had to throw twigs at him to get him out the way!
Patrick - about 4 years ago, I was inspecting a construction site near South Palm Springs and ran into a similar situation. There was almost the exact same size corrugated plastic pipe running under a small maintenance road with shrubs around. A worker found the snakes and there were at least a couple hundred. No one will ever know for sure, because the superintendant inundated the snakes iwth gas and lit them on fire. He was an A$$ big time.
I encountered two Southern Pacific Rattlers when I did a Cloudburst Summit to Buckhorn Campground loop. The first one (photo) was in the shade, and right on the trail, next to Cooper Creek. The second one slithered right past my left foot as I was finishing up from taking a leak. After shouting a few choice explatives, I lept over him.
