Snattlerake…help, help!

So as part of Marshall’s plan to lose weight and get in shape, he offered to take the dogs and me on a hike at Del Valle.  Woohoo!  =)

Before we headed to the park, we stopped off at Big 5 to get Marshall a nice water bottle and a new pair of shoes.  I hadn’t even thought about how painful these hikes must have been for him wearing his worn out “Vans” like shoes.

We totally lucked out by not only finding a pair of shoes that fit Marshall perfectly (even he had to admit that they felt amazing on the hike) but they were also on sale.  Sweet!

So now outfitted with a kick-A pair of shoes and a new water bottle, we set out for our hike at Del Valle.  It was 10:45am when we got to the park.  As we walked through the first cattle gate we saw a sign that said there would be a “special event” from 11-2 which turned out to be an off-road bike race that was set to take the same path as we were.  As a result, we walked a lot faster than we normally do and were thankfully able to avoid being caught in between a bunch of cyclists.

However this trip would not be without it’s own “special event.”  As Marshall and I were headed down the last hill, right past the water tower, I spotted a snake that Marshall and Lotus were headed right for.  They were literally two feet away from walking right over it and I screamed at Marshall “SNAKE!” and he stopped dead in his tracks and pulled Lotus back.  At first he was upset at me for scaring him and then I pointed out the snake right in front of him and it took him a second but then he realized it was a huge, HUGE, rattlesnake.

Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera but Marshall always has his iPhone so I was able to get a picture of it.  The snake was probably between 3.5-4ft (if not longer) with about 6 visible rattles on its tail.  I wanted to come in closer to get a better picture but then realized this thing likely has a very far-reaching strike distance so I settled with the picture I had and we continued on our way.  All in all it was pretty exciting and a bit scary at the same time.  I’ve never seen a snake that big in person before let alone one that could actually inflict some damage.  Glad I keep Sierra on lead now.  =)