[pct-l] Fear

[ariztazer at yahoo.com (David Brunstein)]

JoAnn wrote: Is there an area through Section A where they are more prevalent than another? If so, where? 
I feel for you!  I'm also phobicly afraid of snakes.  I jumped at every stick that laid across the trail.  lol.  If it helps any, I didn't see any snakes in section A or B.  I'm no expert, but my thoughts are that rattlers are common all along trail in SoCal.  Two large contributing factors to "seeing" snakes are the time of day and the amount of noise you make.  

It seemed to me that the most common sightings were in the early evening, just as the sun was getting low.  It was almost as if the snakes were looking for an open sunny space (the trail) to warm themselves before evening.  Secondly, it seemed there were a lot more sightings when hiking alone or way ahead of a partner.  Maybe the noise of two hikers talking served as a warning and the snakes got off the trail ahead of the hiker.

Of course, there are sighting exceptions to these two generalities.  Ray Jardine talks about seeing snakes most often when you stop, meaning that most of the time you harmless walk by them without notice.  No doubt that rattlers avoid encounters with humans if at all possible.  There were numerous times last year when a hiker behind me saw a snake that I had just walked by.

Lucky

 


		
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