Jefferson
Active member
On Friday, July 22, an alluring thought popped into my head: it was 95 degrees, and a road cruise through a rocky, south-facing slope area might yield a Timber Rattlesnake. I thought the chances were very low to actually find one of these big bruisers and that I would likely find a few non-venomous snakes on my route. Well, I needed to get out of town for a night anyway, so why not? I took a friend along and we buzzed through the Shenandoah Valley as dusk set in, closing in on our wilderness spot. Amid thin layers of haze coming off the mountains of the Blue Ridge, we exited the valley along a stream-hugging one lane, and not a half mile into the road, there sat in the fore of my high beams a three-foot Timber Rattler!!! We got out to photograph and video record the snake, and as we got within eight feet, it began to rattle at us as it slithered off the road and into the ditch. It disappeared after an adrenaline-filled minute, and I was about as hyped as I have ever been. As if that weren't a blessed enough night of road cruising, we spotted yet another Timber Rattler, this one almost five feet long and with a more yellowish hue, and a Copperhead, on the way out. My friends, that was one epic night!
Happy herpin'
Jefferson
Happy herpin'
Jefferson
