The Morning Hike When I Almost Died

Ok, maybe I wouldn't have died but it definitely wouldn't have been fun.

I went hiking in Quigley Canyon with my friend Sherri when something caught my attention just 3-4 strides in front of me.  To be honest I thought it was a cow pie, which my immediate thought was, there shouldn't be cow pies here!  Then it took a second longer for me to realize it was a snake.

I had immediately stopped and backed up.  Sherri was puzzled on why I had stopped and I told her there was a snake in my path.  It was a bit hard to see because it was curled up in the dirt in the shadow of a bush.  After looking at it she informed me it was a young rattlesnake, the most venomous kind.  Geez, thanks for telling me that, now I have to walk past it.  Needless to say I was a bit nervous after that.

I then preceded to tell Sherri of my experience encountering a Gila monster (the only venomous lizard in North America) which then reminded me of another poisonous encounter in Jordan.  She asked me, was it a scorpion?  Actually, I do have a scorpion experience but that wasn't the story I was going to share.  After telling her about my three poisonous creature encounters and my one coyote encounter, Sherri questioned her welfare being in my presence. I assured her I wasn't a magnet for the dangerous.

The hike had a nice view of Melody Ranch, a western filming backlot.

There were many trails along this hike

Some of the trail had lots of bushes.  This only made me more nervous after my encounter.

You probably cant see it here, its in the middle group of shadows.

Here's a better shot, I didn't want to get too close!

I survived!

So in case you were wondering about my other poisonous animal adventures here's the scoop.  When I was in Jordan doing an excavation I was sifting through dirt retreived from our site.  I was using my hand to help break up the clumps and get them through the sifter.  My director was watching me then all of a sudden grabbed my hand.  He pointed out a spider that is very poisonous.  It was huge and, thinking it was dead, took a picture of my finger with it.  Seconds after I pulled away it started to move.  Nope, not dead.

I don't have a picture of the scorpion I encounter but I've included a picture of the grave I was digging in.  After I dug out a corner of dirt I saw this little movement of yellowish color.  I didn't know what kind of creature it was but I suspected it was a scorpion.  It looked different from your typical scorpion.  I had someone go get the supervisor who informed me it was, indeed, a scorpion.  I jumped out of that grave in no time.  I learned later, the lighter the color the more venomous they are.

Sean and I visited Arizona for baseball spring training.  You can read the highlights here.  We visited a national monument and on our trail we came across the Gila Monster walking across our path.