http://youtu.be/-4qUXcXuMSE (http://youtu.be/-4qUXcXuMSE)
I hit this creek on a couple different occasions some time ago, but wanted to go further. Mission accomplished. I made a trek of approximately 2-2.5 miles each way this time around. During one of the past outings here, I came pretty close to getting too personal with a timber rattler (around 8ft between me and the snake). I really can't help but think about that incident every time I'm even remotely close to that area exploring a creek. Today would be no different, actually worse.
Located a walking stick, let's do this.
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What are these? They were very "opened up" and full on my hike in, but on the return trip they were closed up and kind of shriveled. Interesting.
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Hoards of these to be had. Some damned nice natives here as well. Unfortunately, I broke one of the largest off, but seen many more.
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Mr. Brown made an appearance. I didn't expect that.
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Black Forest ham and cheese. Hard to beat while sitting on a log in a creek like this. Eat lunch, catch trout.
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At this point things started to get interesting. I reached a point on the creek where several large trees had been blown across, almost damming it up. They were "stacked" so high that I couldn't see over or past them. Numerous fish swam in that pool, some of proper size as well.
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The obstruction forced me to hit the land, and crawl/climb over. Threw one leg over, and the other, landed on my feet only to see this, maybe 3 or 4 feet from where my feet had planted:
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That'll wake you up real quick. I think the second snake was a water snake, but it still aided in stopping of my heart when I dropped off that dead fall. This made the long hike back to the truck interesting. Walk softly.
A sign of the glorified goat population:
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Watch your step, friends. Catch ya later, Rattlesnake Mountain. n!n