[at-l] snakes

[lwbooher@halifax.com (Leslie Booher)]

>I have to admit though, in public, on the list (I'd post this to WFs list
but I'm banned), that I faked my 1999 thru hike!<

So, Paddler, were all these snakes you saw along the trail within a mile of
a road?  <G>  Leslie (anklebear)

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Hewitt <Tim.Hewitt@fairchildsemi.com>
To: at-l@mailman.backcountry.net <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Date: Thursday, March 22, 2001 9:35 AM
Subject: RE: [at-l] snakes


>Anne_Small@umenfa.maine.edu wrote:
>
>> My husband and I are planning a thru-hike next year on the AT and are
>> wondering if we should worry about snakes.  Do hikers normally carry a
>> snake bite kit?  What should you do if you are bitten by a snake?
>
>On my 1999 hike, I saw very few snakes.
>
>I heard a rattlesnake in the south on one of the first sunny days. I was
not
>able to locate him, but when I left rocky area where I heard him and got
>back on the trail, he'd rattle again - just to tease me.
>
>I saw one rattlesnake in the Shannendoahs, sleeping on the trail. I nudged
>him off the trail with my hiking poles so that no one would step on him,
and
>he slithered quietly away.
>
>I saw three copperheads, all sleeping in a rock crack with a big blacksnake
>in upper PA. I saw a smaller, baby copperhead just outside of Port Clinton,
>under the bridge. He was just a baby, and oh so cute.
>
>I saw a half a dozen black snakes, and these were the most aggressive on
the
>whole trip! One of these guys refused to let me pass him on the trail. He
>would lunge and strike at me over and over again. I finally backed off
about
>8 feet and he decided he had won and left. Though not poisonous, It still
>freaked me out that he was so aggressive.
>
>I don't know how many snake bites there are over the years on the trail,
but
>the chances of being bitten are much lower than being hit by a car going
>into town...  I'd not worry about it at all.
>
>If you are bitten, evacuation to town and a hospital is important.
Antivenin
>is your best treatment, and you'll not carry that with you.
>
>-Paddler
>GA>ME Class of '99
>http://paddler99.trailstories.com
>
>_______________________________________________
>AT-L mailing list
>AT-L@mailman.backcountry.net
>http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l
>