Southern pa rattlesnack alert

[birchy]

I wanted to caution all hikers between Calidonia State Park and Pine Grove State Park in Southern PA to be on the alert for above normal Rattlesnake activity. In the past two weeks I have encountered 7 rattlesnakes in a 3 mile stretch of the A.T. This is well above the usual.. Please use caution in this area............ MAYBE ITS TIME TO REMOVE THE NO KILL BAN...

[jrwiesz]

trail lunch.

[HikerMom58]

Thanks for the info!

[Saffirre8]

i just did that hike this weekend and i didnt see any rattles, but then again i wasnt looking for them either...

[hikerboy57]

I wanted to caution all hikers between Calidonia State Park and Pine Grove State Park in Southern PA to be on the alert for above normal Rattlesnake activity. In the past two weeks I have encountered 7 rattlesnakes in a 3 mile stretch of the A.T. This is well above the usual.. Please use caution in this area............ MAYBE ITS TIME TO REMOVE THE NO KILL BAN...

Before you kill them, remember how many shelter mice each one can eat, remember that they generally wont attack unless threatened, and remeber you're in their habitat, not the othr way around.7 rattlers in 3 miles?thats one for every 7 football fields.Maybe theyre avoidable?

[Sarcasm the elf]

Before you kill them, remember how many shelter mice each one can eat, remember that they generally wont attack unless threatened, and remeber you're in their habitat, not the othr way around.7 rattlers in 3 miles?thats one for every 7 football fields.Maybe theyre avoidable?

We only ran into one rattler between Pawling ny and DWG, PA a couple of weeks ago. My friend was nearly in striking distance before he heard the rattle ( isn't it nice of them to give us such a loud warning?) As soon as he began backing away slowly, the snake retreated.

I'll take more snakes and less mice.

[CowHead]

Thanks will be out there the end of june anyone know how the water is in PA thanks

[10-K]

Time to break out the kevlar hiking pants...

[hikerboy57]

Time to break out the kevlar hiking pants...

10-k those wil be great to protect you from people blindly shooting their trail guns at snakes and sticks and stuff.But is kevlar packable?

[10-K]

10-k those wil be great to protect you from people blindly shooting their trail guns at snakes and sticks and stuff.But is kevlar packable?

Sure, they have cuben fiber kevlar now...

[hikerboy57]

that is awesome!!

[AegisIII]

Wow, that's seven more rattlesnakes than I've ever seen anywhere in Michaux.

[Sierra Echo]

Bah hahahahhahahahhaaa I was wondering what a rattleSNACK was!

[LDog]

Bah hahahahhahahahhaaa I was wondering what a rattleSNACK was!

I like em deep fried extra crispy!

[Del Q]

Seeing a BIG rattler at Balanced Rock in Pa was one of my finest AT moments.

What, no food or GORP left?

Leave these super cool creatures alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tdoczi]

i just did that hike this weekend and i didnt see any rattles, but then again i wasnt looking for them either...

i WAS looking and didnt see any!

[4Bears]

Rattle-Snack... hehe I like that. Deep fried extra crispy?? HHHmmmm maybe with some shrimp cocktail sauce??

[Cookerhiker]

.... My friend was nearly in striking distance before he heard the rattle ( isn't it nice of them to give us such a loud warning?) As soon as he began backing away slowly, the snake retreated.....

This seems like the usual case - they avoid people, in a confrontation as long as they're not cornered, they move on.

But when I came upon one on the Allegheny Trail last year, he was almost in the middle of the Trail and wouldn't move for anything. Head up, tail up, rattling away - he didn't even move when one of the small rocks I tossed landed squarely on him (not intending to kill him, just prod him). Trailway was too narrow hemmed by thick rhododendron for us to walk around him so finally found a long-enough stick to poke him off.

[hikerboy57]

This seems like the usual case - they avoid people, in a confrontation as long as they're not cornered, they move on.

But when I came upon one on the Allegheny Trail last year, he was almost in the middle of the Trail and wouldn't move for anything. Head up, tail up, rattling away - he didn't even move when one of the small rocks I tossed landed squarely on him (not intending to kill him, just prod him). Trailway was too narrow hemmed by thick rhododendron for us to walk around him so finally found a long-enough stick to poke him off.

Same thing happened to me last year in Harrriman. I had considered backtracking and looping around, but it would have added 6 miles to my hike, so I just kept on throwing small sticks at him every minute or two, waited twenty minutes or so for him to finally move off.

[4shot]

saw two massive rattlers last year within a mile or so of each other around the shelter south of the 501 shelter. They were big and sunning themselves in the trail. They did not follow protocol, no courtesy rattles and I came uncomfortably close to both of them. took awhile for them to be moved off the trail by tossing small rocks and sticks in their direction. Was not trying to hit or injure them. for the next week or so, every branch/stick/twig I managed to move with my boots nearly caused me to jump out of my skin.

to add insult to injury, both times I scrambled backwards so fast that I tripped on one of the rare and infrequent rocks in the trail that one encounters in Pa. and ended up on my back thrashing around like a turtle that had been tipped over. Fortunately no one managed to witness that and in one case, I prevented a sobo section hiker from coming around a bend in the trail. I believe if I had not been there in that case that guy would have stepped on the snake because he was not visible from a sobo perspective.