The first couple times I hiked up Daisy I went down the same way I went up. It's just over 6 miles that route. The thing is it's hard to stay on the trail going down the south side. Every time I would get off trail and it was a pain trying to get back. So last week I discovered the trail going down the backside. It's a longer route, close to 7 miles, but the descend is a lot faster.
Well this morning after getting down the mountain I was nearly down to the road where the hiking gets easy. Just below where the trail splits, probably about 100-150 feet from where I found the horny toad a few hikes ago. I was walking on the right side of the wide trail and I heard a rattlesnake and it was close. It scared me so bad instinct kicked in and before I knew it I had jumped back a foot and had my .45 halfway out of my holster. Then I looked 5 feet in front of me and there was a big 4 foot + Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. Had I not heard it I would have stepped on him two steps later.
So I thought about my options and decided to let this guy live. He was a veteran snake, had about ten layers on the rattle, and he did give me a warning. So I snapped a few pics and then threw some small rocks to get him off the trail. Only problem is he didn't really want to retreat and he just decided to hang out in a bush next to the trail. I didn't have a long enough stick to mess with this thing anymore so I decided to just leave.
So since I had aggravated this snake I decided it was only fair to give everyone fair warning it was there. A couple minutes later I ran into a girl (wearing ear buds, listening to music). I really don't understand this stupidity. The first hike I had I was walking behind a middle aged woman for 5 minutes and she had no clue I was there because of her ear buds. When I passed her she was startled. Good way to become a rape victim, or get a rattlesnake bite, or attacked by a mountain lion. So anyways back to today. I warned the girl about the snake, it was in a location that is easy to describe, and she said "That's why I don't like hiking here when it's hot". Um how about just not hiking with ear buds? I don't know if she put them back in when she continued down the trail. A couple minutes later I ran into another girl with ear buds. Her music was so loud she couldn't hear me talking until she pulled them out. She got so scared she turned the other way. And then I ran into the first guy I have ever seen hiking there with ear buds. He looked like a chick with his two telescopic walking sticks looking like he was skiing on a wide dirt road. Haha. I had to warn him. I couldn't help but shake my head at the stupidity. Had I been wearing ear buds I would have spent my day in the ER. The only warning that there was a snake in my path was the rattling.
From the top of Daisy Mountain
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