BC Herping

Another Rattlesnake.

This evening I had a few free hours, so I took my 2 sons and headed for Fort Canyon. I am not the only herper that visits this canyon. Every good hide rock has been rolled over and left that way. It is best to lift the rocks, check for snakes, and then lay the rock back exactly where it was. When we arrived at the starting point there were about 15 cars parked around the gated entrance and teenagers in swimsuits heading to and from the creek (this is very unusual for this canyon). I knew this would be a short outing because my younger son made me carry him. We went a different direction than the swimmers to increase our chances of finding snakes. We flipped some logs with no luck. Then we found a tiny Side-Blotched Lizard that my sons wanted me to catch for them to hold. After releasing the lizard, we walked around until I found an old galvanized pipe in some tall grass. I knew there would be snakes around/under that. I started to walk around the pipe and heard a loud rattlesnake rattle. When I approached the snake I should have had my camera out, because it quickly slithered under the pipe. It was a large Great Basin Rattlesnake with about 9 rattles and would have been cool to photo. It probably could have injured/smashed the snake to have rolled the pipe, so the snake was left alone. I might come back to this area later. This is about the 10th rattlesnake that I have found this season and they are beginning to seem to be one of the easier snakes to find. When we were leaving, a group of guys showed with cameras and dressed in hiking gear. They are probably the ones flipping all the rocks and leaving them flipped. Either that or they were there to take pictures of the teen aged girls swimming in the creek. I am hoping they were herpers.