Where have you seen Rattle snakes on the AT?
Where have you seen Rattle snakes on the AT?
Trail Miles: 5,154.2
AT Map 1: ✔ | 13-21'
Sheltowee Trace: ✔ | 20-23'
Pinhoti Trail: ✔ | 23-24'
Foothills Trail: ✔ | 24'
GSMNP900: 134.7(17%)
AT Map 2: 279.4
CDT: 210.9
BMT: 52.7
In the Smokies and in PA. Your poll won't let me choose both.
I wanted people to have to choose where they have seen the most, not in general where they have seen them. If it is a broad range then just post here like you did thanks!
Trail Miles: 5,154.2
AT Map 1: ✔ | 13-21'
Sheltowee Trace: ✔ | 20-23'
Pinhoti Trail: ✔ | 23-24'
Foothills Trail: ✔ | 24'
GSMNP900: 134.7(17%)
AT Map 2: 279.4
CDT: 210.9
BMT: 52.7
I've covered 2000 miles of the AT, plus another couple of hundred miles on other trails, and have never seen a live rattler. My preference to hike in cooler temps has likely contributed to this, but still. I'm not complaining, and I'll bet a few rattlers have seen me scuttling by and simply ignored me.
GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014
I saw more snakes in general between the Delaware River and the Hudson River than anywhere else on the trail.
I've seen them on the trail in VA, PA & NC. I saw 2 copperheads right before Erwin, TN.
I'll second that! Hiked there in late May of 2011 and I've never seen so many in an area that size. I ended up photographing and identifying a half dozen species that i'd never seen before. There were no problems though, the snakes were all every eager to get out of our way, they wanted nothing to so with us.
The info i read st the AMC Mohecan Outdoor center said that most rattlesnake bites on the trail were the result of people trying to pick them up and getting bit in the hand or arm in the process, it also said that the majority of snakebite victims had been drinking alcohol at the time of the incident.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Profile of snakebite victim = male, under 25, "investigating" the snake, alcohol involved.
Everything is in Walking Distance
Saw this guy between Black Gap Shelter and Springer Mountain.ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398880742.512990.jpg
RIAP
I have heard, but never seen, rattlers in Shenandoah National Park during the summer months. I didn't see or hear any on my recent hike probably due to the colder weather.
HST/JMT August 2016
TMB/Alps Sept 2015
PCT Mile 0-857 - Apr/May 2015
Foothills Trail Feb 2015
Colorado Trail Aug 2014
AT: Rockfish Gap to Boiling Springs 2014
John Muir Trail Aug/Sept 2013
I regularly see them both north and south of NOC below about 4,500 ft especially in the drier, sunnier areas - esp. in pine-oak association forests. In the last 35 years of hiking in the Nantahalas I've probably seen about 25 - 30. Plenty o' Copperheads as well.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Saw one while climbig "Jacob's Ladder" one afternoon. He did not want to move, so I went around him.
I almost stepped on one just north of Blue Mountain Road in New Jersey. Never saw it till I was almost on him. It moved at the last minute & I did the "two-step" to avoid him! He moved about 4 feet off the trail, coiled up and rattled!
Yup. I see them all the time, though never on the AT. I had to move one for the first time the other day, since he blocked my path, and used a ten foot stick and a gentle touch. He was very calm, didn't seem to mind at all. I wouldn't do it unless necessary though. Usually I admire for a minute and keep moving.
I've only seen one rattlesnake (period), and it was on the south side of Mt. Race, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, about 5 miles north of the Connecticut border, on the AT. It was basking in the sun and looked like it was trying to digest something large.
Pennsylvania for me, because I live and mostly hike in PA. I recently attended a class on PA venomous snakes where I learned the following, culled from emergency room data: Most snakebite victims are male, bitten on the hands, and have consumed alcohol immediately prior to the incident.
As a professional outdoorsman, my advice is: Don't drink around snakes; don't pick up snakes; don't be male. Follow these three simple rules and you will be OK.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
I never tried to pick up snakes... I have caught many locally and dropped them off in my backyard... scared the crap out my son once... wish I had video... recently I noticed I don't have any shelter mice.
you would not want me for a neighbor - I apparently party all night long.
Woo
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo