It's been in the chilly 40's and 50's here, but one location I want to shoot is up in the foothills (temperature inversion) where it's been in the 60's.
The trouble is, in good weather its snakey as hell where I want to go shoot (last environmental study I read, 40/acre)
If ol' Jake is taking his siesta, I'm good with that. If Jake is awake, not so much.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
Get good, high boots to protect yourself.
When I'm in eastern Oregon, I always have my eyes on (or under) the sage brush.
They will be up and about for sure, especially on a sunny day. Just watch where you step and it shouldn't be an issue though. Most snakes are usually sunning themselves on days like that and easy to spot if you are careful.
If you get sunny days that can warm up the rocks, I would say to keep a good eye out for them.
Photographing here (eastern WA), I would have worried more about rattlers, but it was 110F. Any snakes were under something!
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
We have many snakes, I watch carefully, always
Once in State Forest I was leading single file a merry band
Surrounded by tall grass on ridge a flat stone, a large rattler was sunning in a coil
I talked 10 people into stepping over her as she slept
Decades later I was on hands and knees examining tiny pissed off rattlers next to my house
Tin Can
Rattlers can certainly be active at 60F. If you're lucky you see 'em ahead of time, but it's a very chilling sound to hear one just off a trail under/in some brush somewhere that you can't see.
One very hot day, the same band were in my 1956 2 door Chevy Panel truck
I pulled off by a lake, I was first to jump in
Opened my eyes underwater to see many water moccasin right in front of me
I started yelling get out!
No person or snake injured
Then we saw the warning sign. 'Devils Kitchen' lake, no swimming
Years later we learned to skinny dip off the sand, the snakes were in the weeds far away
BUT Blue Gill will nibble on loose naked bits, if you tread water
Tin Can
No thanks.
I think I'd rather enjoy some hot cocoa and read Chaucer's translation of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy instead.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
to save my eyes
I vastly prefer audio books
Originally Posted by John Kasaian
Tin Can
I've never encountered them in them thar hills this time a year, John; and if anyone ever would have, it would have been me. But I'm so instinctively aware of them, that's I'm always cautious around rocks, no matter where and when.
Sounds can be misleading. Certain grasshoppers mimic rattler sounds, and gopher snakes do a pretty good job of imitating them, even shaking their tails to create a vaguely similar whir sound.
I once killed a true full adult diamond back rattler with a mutation eliminating the rattles, just a pointed tail - no doubt an adaptation to them being killed off by ranchers for decades due to sounding off. Two or three more like that turned up in the hills around the same general timeframe. I pickled it, and if I recall correctly, gave it to a herpetologist for a university collection.
Highest altitude I've ever encountered a rattler was around 7500 ft in a drier section of Sequoia NP. That was the more docile and smaller Pacific rattler rather than an ornery big diamondback of lower elevations.
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