5/30/11 CHS Posting

I just got back from a wonderful five-day backpack trip into the Grand Canyon from the North Rim. I went with five friends and we went into the Thunder Creek/Deer Creek area. It was a rugged and challenging route and we were all challenged in different ways.

One of our biggest challenges was an encounter with a rattlesnake on an exposed part of the trail. Our lead hiker, Laurie, passed by the snake initially unaware but heard it rattle its tail after she’d passed by. Fortunately the next couple of hikers had been lagging back a bit looking at the views and Laurie could warn us before we walked in front of it. We could see it ahead of us and it was indeed all coiled to strike! So we needed to figure out how to deal with situation.

Laurie threw a few rocks in front of the snake, trying to scare it out of its hiding place, but that had no effect. We then waited for about 15 minutes to see if it would calm down and slither away, but that didn’t work either. By then we’d christened the snake “Sammy” and we knew we had to think of how to get around the snake without walking on the trail. Did I mention that the trail was a bit exposed? Going below the trail was deemed too difficult, so Laurie and two other group members, Christine and Barb, started investigating hiking above the trail.

This was a bit time-consuming and so being an action-oriented individual I tried to think how I could use my hiking pole to fling the snake off of the trail. I’ve never done this before but I was (stupidly?) willing to attempt it. The other two group members, Michale and Katy, helped me figure out a way to protect my legs from a potential snakebite. We wrapped my legs with our Outsacks (mesh-type food bags used to protect food from small critters like mice). We were busy figuring out other things to wrap around my legs when Laurie (fortunately) informed us that the high route was risky but doable. So I never got a chance to test out my snakebite “armor” and flinging ability.

We have rarely encountered rattlesnakes on Mountaineers hikes, but in the event that you do come across one, the best option is to find an alternate way around them. Some hikers wear higher gaiters when they hike in rattlesnake territory to protect against being bitten. But in the unlikely event of snakebite, follow these directions for treatment.