SlowBro gets rattled by a snake

(Author’s note: The term “stocking cap” used in this post refers to a winter hat you might wear skiing. The modern term is “beanie.”)

PCT April 23, 2014. This was my 19th day on the trail, almost three weeks. I had crossed the 300 mile mark about an hour after leaving camp this morning and it was now almost 11 a.m. I was making my way down Deep Creek Canyon. A rocky scrub and cactus filled ravine in the foothills.

I accidentally got off on a game trail for a short distance and rather than walk back I went cross-country to reconnect with the PCT. As I got about 10 feet from the trail I saw an old faded black stocking cap in the grass near the trail. I almost reached down to grab it, but decided I didn’t want to carry the extra weight and from the look of it, the hat had been there for a while. So it would be pretty dirty and gross.

Still, as I passed within a foot of the cap I thought, That looks like a snake! I was standing on the trail before my thought finally registered. I took a step back. I took a second step back. I took a picture. I enlarged the picture. Yes, this was a snake. It kind of looked like a rattlesnake. But it definitely wasn’t rattling. Maybe it was dead. Maybe it was a female with a clutch of eggs. Whatever was happening, it had not messed with me, and I was, for sure, not going to mess with it. I snapped a couple more pictures and moved on. A little unnerved by what could have been. I was, after all, thinking of picking up the old stocking cap.

After I finished the PCT I tried to figure out what kind of snake it was, but image identification in 2014 was not what it is today, so I set it aside. It wasn’t until a few days ago (a dozen years later), when I came upon this picture while looking for blog topics, that I thought maybe AI could ID the snake. And BINGO! It looked at the picture and said that’s a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake. Sometimes called the Black Diamond rattlesnake or Pacific rattlesnake. To be clear it is not a true Diamondback which is a different species.

This snake (Southern Pacific rattlesnake Crotalus helleri) is native to Southern California down to Baja and found from the ocean to the desert foothills. Like all rattlesnakes, it is a pit viper. It has two infrared heat-sensing organs in small pits between its eyes and nostrils that help it hunt. The pit organ also helps them regulate their temperature by letting the snake know how hot it is. Then the snake can move to shade or sun as needed. Mother Southern Pacific rattlesnakes incubate their eggs internally and are very careful to keep their temperature well regulated for their young. The females give birth to 9-10 live snakelets that are poisonous at birth.

And speaking of poison, these thick-bodied four foot long snakes have a venom similar to the Mojave rattler, maybe the deadliest venom in North America. Their venom is hemotoxic , myotoxic, and neurotoxic. Most rattlers have hemotoxic venom that breaks down blood and turns it into sludge. Some have venom that is both hemotoxic and myotoxic (breaks down blood and muscle.) But a select few, like the Mojave and the Southern Pacific rattlesnakes, have venom that is hemotoxic, myotoxic, and neurotoxic (knocks out the nervous system along with breaking down blood and muscle.) So, the Southern Pacific rattlesnake is potentially one of the deadliest snakes on the continent. Luckily they are generally shy and their natural defensive behavior is to remain still and rely on their camouflage to protect them. And fortunately for me, this one did just that.