I'd try a local 911 call first if cell service were available, but yes - a PLB use under the circumstances seems totally reasonable to me.
I'd try a local 911 call first if cell service were available, but yes - a PLB use under the circumstances seems totally reasonable to me.
When doing trail maintenance I wear leather boots and OR two layer gaiters. Mostly to keep dirt out of my boots and to protect my shins from a ricocheting swing blade. Hiking is low tops trail shoes and lightweight single ply gaiters.
I have seen probably a dozen or so timber rattlers and a couple of copperhead snakes. Most often the rattlers do not rattle unless they are startled.
There may have been more copperheads that I didn't see. They are very well camouflaged. One of the copperheads I heard leaves rustle and had to carefully look before I finally saw it stretched out immediately to my left. It had crossed the trail in front of me and stopped just off the tread way. I took it's picture and went on my way leaving it were it stopped.
When working on the trail I try to make a point to use a tool to move the foliage before stepping off trail or reaching into brush.
The only near miss that I have had was hiking an overgrown AT south of Buena Vista. Deciding not to stay at Punchbowl Shelter I had pushed on looking for a stealth spot to tent.
As it began to get dark I intentionally did not turn on my headlamp so that I might spot an open space off trail. There were small frogs or toads occasionally jumping from the undergrowth. I was wearing low top hiking shoes, shorts and no gaiters.
Just after crossing a footbridge a patterned thick bodied snake struck at me from the left. I jumped backwards with enough force that my gatorade bottle came out of the bungie attached to my pack strap. The snake crawled off to the left. I foolishly reached down and picked up the water bottle.
I'm not sure if it was a rattle snake that didn't warn or a water snake. My heart rate jumped so high that I had to sit down at a bench at the Brown Mountain sign for the African American settlement site to calm my self.
The snake could have bitten me if it wanted so I suspect it was just a warning. I turned on my headlamp and proceeded much more slowly from there until Brown Mountain Shelter.
Business as usual for me, although I do prefer 8 inch boots, not sure if the canvas sides are snake fang proof though. I have covered quite a few miles at a jog in split leather half chaps, Basically tight fitting gaiters from ankle to just below knee. Never really bothered me. Dont see why gaiters would bother you walking..
Although it seems like a taller leather boot would be better.
Given the incredibly low odds of getting snakebit I'm not too worried about it.
A couple of years ago, a hiking partner noticed that I had just hiked past a log that had 3-4 rattlers under it. Didn't bother us, and I'm sure that I've walked past many, many snakes without even knowing it.
The one that startled me most was an unusual yellow/black Eastern Hognose that rared up like a miniature cobra and startled me enough to jump sideways off the trail. Didn't even know it was a hognose from the coloring, but they're really harmless to people.
Eastern_Hognose_snake_SMALL.jpg
The Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter ~ Cam "Swami" Honan of OZ
I too have only seen rattlers on the Trail but only in Pennsylvania, they seemed unconcerned as I passed them. But I do love a good snake story! In 1970 Louisiana while training for my senior trip to Vietnam one of my fellow draftees was bitten on the index finger by a Pygmy rattler, a vicious little snake pretty common in the south. Long story short he ended up losing that finger thus saving him a tour in the infantry, truly a million dollar wound. Absolutely no bearing on the thread here but to add to the possible outcome of a bite. 42783037-60A9-4AC0-8DE2-7034C7C0E813.jpeg
"every day's a holiday, every meal a feast"
So...how tall are these gaiters y'all are talking about?
Every snake gaiter I have seen is usually about knee high.Important to note that they really do not protect your foot,just the shins up to about knee level.
You can get knee high snake proof boots at sporting good vendors like Bass Pro/Cabella etc.Nothing beats keen eyes and ears though and it goes without saying,"don't put your feet where you can't see."The copperhead I nearly stepped on was hidden in plain sight on bare ground and I had thought he was a stick until it moved.....copper heads and timber rattlers have some pretty good camo in their dna.
After the two encounters last year, I contacted a half dozen herpetologists regarding the strike zone of a Timber Rattler. Not one was aware of a bite above the knee although they theorized it could occur if you were walking up an incline, it was on a ledge above ground level, or you sat down on a log or rock thereby exposing your thigh.
Now, I always wear Turtleskin gaiters while hiking and often forget I'm wearing them. Not an inconvenience at all and they provide me with peace of mind.
"Situational Awareness" is a big thing on gun forums etc and it applies to summer backpackers on trails with pit vipers. I call it simply, "Keep Your Eyeballs Open and Your Butt Cheeks Clenched" i.e. Focus on the trail in front of you and forget about it. Rattlesnakes put the "wild" in "wilderness"---in the Southeast where I backpack they are our Grizzlies---and one of the few things that can kill us outright. For an older guy like me the main cause of death would probably heart attack after a bite.
Yes---Don't wear headphones!!! I've seen so many pit vipers it's getting ridiculous but I wanted to be a herpetologist when I was a kid so it all works out. It's true I stop and de-pack and talk to my reptile friends---give them names. Sometimes I even see the same ones the following year hanging out in the same vicinity.
The strike zone of a snake could be from wherever it's sitting---like this guy up on a big hemlock blowdown as I was preparing to cross over with my big pack. Almost reached onto him during my butt scoot over---oops. This happened on Upper Slickrock Nutbuster Trail #42.
Nice shot.
The lighting made pics of that last timber I saw a challenge, hence the video/gif.
Fun encounter, with the defensive display and all. Pretty rare for a pit viper in my experience(though I get it from rat snakes and racers), but with a steep incline on one side and dropoff on the other, I think he felt trapped.
I walked him over to the side so I could get by after he calmed down a bit, and he was cool about it.
20211005_173755.jpg
I've seen more of them in October than any other month, so hopefully that won't be the last
Is that the shade or what? Why is his tail,rattle so black?
This little guy could have got my pinky toe Thursday morning if I hadn't seen him...and had been wearing sandals
Kinda unusual on a cool morning; I only expect to see them in the afternoon this time of year.
I was poking fun about the snake gaiters before, but have been doing tons of bushwhacking lately, exploring gorges, looking for offtrail arches, and so on, sometimes getting into some really thick stuff.
Thorns and briars and brambles, oh my. After getting pretty gouged up from the knees down a few times, some puncture protection is starting to sound like a good idea...
Nice shot of the eye. IIRC the vertical slit pupils are characteristic of venomous ones, round ones are not venomous. There may be exceptions to that generalization, but IDK. That's my recollection. Now you're making me wish I got a picture of what I think was a pygmy rattler encountered on a walk yesterday. As cool as it was, I didn't expect it to move fast ... and it didn't move at all. I'm not sure it was even alive.