I rounded the off-camber corner, pointing myself uphill. The grade steepened, so I answered with a downshift and began to put all the oomph I could into the cranks. Then the buzzing started.
Though the buzzing could have been mistaken for a noisy insect, I knew just where it originated: a rattlesnake.
Spring is here, bringing warmer temperatures, sunny skies, lawns that have to be mowed constantly, and a new wave of rattlesnakes in the hills and backcountry.
I started the day by checking my e-mail. After that was done, I chased a few parts down for my 4Runner project. The next box I planned to check was my exercise box, accomplishing that with a jaunt into the Whittier Hills on my mountain bike.
During the ride, I encountered not one, but three snakes. The first was the rattler buzzing in the bushes as described earlier. I never saw the snake, but by the sound I could tell I was much too close for comfort. Snake number two was a docile one, non-poisonous and about the thickness of a pencil. It scurried off of the trail as I approached. The third serpent was a rattler. I had crested a hill and began to descend toward a ridge. I negotiated several ruts and set up for a mild left-hand course correction. I saw the rattler lying in the trail when I was about fifteen feet away and going way too fast to change direction. I was able to miss the snake by bunny-hopping my bike over it. It was lying straight across the trail, soaking in the late-afternoon sunshine. It never moved.
Rattlesnakes are not much of a threat when you're safely inside a trail rig. The scenario changes rapidly when you get out and walk around. When I'm hiking, walking, or biking in snake country I make a habit of assuming every stick lying across the trail is a snake until I verify it as something else. I'm also careful not to put my hands or feet into places I can't see.
Statistically, the people who get bit by snakes most often are intoxicated, young white males. They become snakebite victims because they don't leave the snakes alone.
With today's medical technology, you've got a good chance of survival if you get bitten by a rattlesnake. Of course, you have to get to the doctor first, and if you're deep in the backcountry that could present a life-altering challenge. It's better to be careful in the first place.
My day wrapped up with a several-hour session of work on my 4Runner. I snapped several photos, some of which I'll post soon.