Re: [at-l] Short day hike along the AT

["W F Thorneloe, MD" <thornel@ibm.net>]

At 07:02 PM 7/23/1999 -0400, Alice Kauzlarich wrote:
>...  I thought we were plenty noisy acutally, but the dog really seemed to 
>have set it off
>naturally.  I never use poles, so that crashes the theory of poles 
>alerting the snakes.

I think you are correct about the poles, _and_ the dog. If the dog had 
stayed home, the snake would have laid low and maintained a camouflaged 
unknown presence. The dog smelled the snake, and did enough to let the 
snake know it was in danger. Hence, the snake gave up hiding and began the 
defensive strike position and trademarked noise making.

There are plenty of snakes out there, but you have to work at it to see 
them. Last weekend, I saw a little garter snake lying on my path, just 
after my friend had walked through. My friend had been investigating every 
mushroom by the path, but had totally missed the cute little critter. The 
snake played possum, tried to look like a black stick although lying in a 
sharp "U" shape. It didn't move until I move my pole toward it to point it 
out to my friend. All the snake did was move its head slightly, and prepare 
to boogy out of there. It looked like hawk food to me!

OrangeBug
Atlanta, GA


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