Vickie and I decided it would be fun to take a field trip and trailer up to the Ghost Town by the Goldfield mountains. This used to be a gold mining town in the late 1800s, and has been renovated as a first class tourist trap hot spot. No trip to valley is complete without the obligatory visit to the Ghost Town, where you can have lunch in the original 1887 saloon.
So, we picked Vickie and Dakota up at about 9 or so, and got up there around 10. We parked on BLM land just next to the ghost town, saddled up, and headed off. It was very green, lots of tall green grasses. We decided to play it safe and stay on the wide open old mining roads, as with all the tall grasses we didn't want to risk running into a snake on the single track trails. They should have still been in hibernation, but it was getting warm (not warm enough yet for them) but the grasses were tall, and if they WERE out, we wouldn't be able to see them in the grass.
We actually started out in a wide wash. Fine. Santana is getting into pretty good shape these days, and he wanted to go. I didn't. We had some conversation over this, and after about ten minutes, he agreed with me. Good boy. The wash led us to a wide mining trail, heading up into some small foothills. My friend Vickie can't see to dial a cell phone, but, past about two feet , she can see a needle in a hay stack. She has amazing "I see nature" eyes. Not too far up the road she spotted three mule, obviously enjoying the bountiful grasses from all the rain we have had this winter. Cameras came out, and we started to take pictures. This time, she kept one hand on her reins though, so as not to repeat the coyote incident....
Once we got our fill of mule deer, we continued on, sticking to the mining roads. I was about 20 feet behind Vickie when almost simultaneously I heard her yell "snake" and heard the loudest rattling and hissing sound I have ever heard live. She scooted forward and turned around. A huge rattler was coiled and ready to strike from the side of the road in the tall grass under a small tree or bush of some sort. He was VERY unhappy bout her being there. Good friend that I am , I froze. I wasn't going any closer. No way. This was unusual snake behavior, because he has every chance to move away as he felt her coming towards him, AND, she wasn't that close for his to already be ready to to strike. It isn't like she almost stepped on him. The snakes are out early, disoriented as they have been forced out of hibernation early due to the rains flooding them out of their dens. Yuck.
So, there we were. My legs were like jello. Vickie and Dakota were on one side of the snake, us on the other. Vickie and I decided that we could just go back, have lunch and a margarita at the sallon, and we would be FINE wit hte short ride. We were both shaken up by this. Only problem was, Vickie still had to get back by that very ticked-off large, venomous reptile. After several minutes, he lowered his neck and flattened out. Good, and bad. She couldn't really see him anymore to know where he was. Mojave Green Rattlesnakes are VERY aggressive, and will come after you. We didn't think it was one of those, not green enough. (we have 17 species of rattlers here...) So, she decided to lope past him and stay as far to the side ofthe road as possible. (we were hoping there wasn't a mate close by... after hibernation comes breeding season..) I moved Santana further up the raod to give her room, and they came on through with no troubel. The rest of the ride back to the trailer, we were on high alert, nervous, and just wanting to get back to the trailer.
We made it back to the trailer without another sighting. However, once there, we hade to check under the trailer to make sure there weren't any snakes under it. (this happens frequently here...) Satisfied that our rig was snake free, we unsaddled and watered the horses, and loaded them into the trailer so they could have thier lunch safely, while we wlaked yp to the saloon to have ours. Vickie ordered a margarita to calm her nerves. I was driving, but I had a sip of hers just because it seemed like the thing to do. We decided at lunch that we needed to head to higher ground wher ethe snakes weren't out yet, and decided next week we would head towards PAyson, where overnight it is still in the high 30s. Perfect!
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