snaaaaaaake!
we were going to go hiking on the fourth of july. but the beautiful and talented alisa threw out her back. we decided to go when she felt better. which was yesterday. we went somewhere we've never been before. sorta. we returned to a previously visited park. but hiked new trails. so that counts. i was in the back. i hear, rattle shriek shriek shriek shriek jump jump jump jump. the last shriek and jump were me of course. i had no idea what i was shrieking at and jumping from. but all i knew was there a rattlesnake just off the trail between me and the family. i eyeballed him for a bit. and he eyeballed me. then i calmly walked past. the trail wound around on the way up the hill. so we called down to the couple below us. rattlesnake! 10' in front of you. on the left. they waved and smiled. moments later we heard more shrieking than before. which is odd. cause it was just the one woman. they skipped that part of the trail and cross countried it up to where we were. they were young and had long legs. so they quickly overtook us. later we saw a kingsnake. i'm going to have to start calling her the the beautiful and talented sharp-eyed alisa. shortly after we saw the same couple as before. they took different trails and were now going the opposite direction. so we warned them about the snake. yeah yeah. no really. the king snake. about 50m ahead on the left.