SNAKE!

We went for a hike today in the Superstition Mountains. Drove past the Lost Dutchman State Park and went to the First Water Trailhead. We chose a set of three trails which created a loop about 8 miles long. We were leery about even beginning our trek because we were having trouble reading the confusing map (see below). It's confusing because It doesn't really have a "You are hear" designation nor is there any clear way of figuring out where on the map you actually are. 

We filled our little backpack with extra shirts and food but wisely opted to replace it all with a gallon jug of water. It was near 85 degrees today and the sun was hot. We started our hike and were not far into it (about 1/2 hr) when I distinctly heard the sound of a baby rattle. I stopped dead in my tracks with Charly bumping into me from behind saying, "What?" In a hushed voice I said, "Rattlesnake!" Approximately 3ft ahead of us from a clump of grassy brush right next to the trail came the unmistakable sound of a baby rattle again. We moved back a little and to the side. I picked up a pebble and threw it at the brush to verify the sound. It came again. We were at somewhat of a standstill not really sure where to go. (What is really strange is a man had just passed us coming from this spot a couple minutes earlier) At this moment we heard a group of people on horseback approaching. We still hadn't actually seen the snake.  I shouted to warn them of the snake as Charly said, "I see it! I see it!"  I looked back and there it was a Diamondback Rattlesnake. He looked pretty big. Long and golden brownish in color, it actually stood out quite well against the green grassy area. The group on horses passed by and we all made exclamations about it being a big one. We were glad to see it on it's way in the other direction however we remained spooked for a good while after. 

Big F'in Snake

Blurry but you can see the head.

We continued on our trek with much hesitation at each clump of brush near the trail. But sanity prevailed and we went back to enjoying the views and the little lizards we would see along the trail. 

Lizzy the Lizard.

Lizzy's cousin.

We stopped for a snack and then continued on. We had been on the second trail of the 3 trail loop for quite a while, moving rather slowly because of our earlier encounter. We started to get concerned we were not where we should be, it was 3:45 and already we had been on the trail nearly 3 hours and were not half done. Darkness would come in 3 hours. We ran into several groups of people who were no help as they had been part of groups and had a leader who had already passed us. :(  We marched on. We finally ran into some guys with a map. Thank goodness, we thought. Unfortunately they seemed more lost then we were. We had to show them where they were on their own map. However they made us nervous because they mentioned there was no clear signage ahead. Well we pushed on because I just couldn't believe there wasn't a sign. We were however getting progressively more nervous and we decided if we did not reach the sign at a certain point we would turn back. 

Tada! Turns out there was a sign and we were happy however we had a lot of ground to cover. We made 3.9 miles of rough terrain in 1 1/2 hours. 2 hours less then the first half took. We arrived at the trailhead by 6:00. Well ahead of sundown. 

What an eventful day.

Charly Snacking sporting her new hair-do.

Map with arrows to Snake Encounter and Encounter with Stupid Guys.

Snake Skin we found at a different location.