mohave rattlesnake
i went on a hike in the morning on my second day in sedona, nm. now sedona is known for being a vortex center. there are electromagnetic, magnetic, and electric vortexes in the area. as one can imagine, the energy is a little trippy there, but i actually find nature in general to have it's trippy properties if you just pay attention to it. actually, that can be said for everywhere in the world. it's hard in the city to stay open because i'm bombarded by stimuli and other people's emotions. i think that can be said for most people. we need to put some walls up in order to not go insane from feeling. during this trip, all walls were down.
given these vortexes, sedona also has it's fair share of spiritual opportunists. the downtown area is commercialized spirituality at it's worst. i couldn't stand it. i literally wanted to drive off one of those beautiful cliffs or kill someone whenever i drove through town. so i stayed at my calm, serene, gorgeous campsite.
i set off along the river that bordered my campsite. it was a very rocky river bed, but low enough that i could cross back and forth a few times. the river was separated by sandy land, rocks, and trees in between it. some gaps were are as large as 100 feet. it looked like at times when the river was high, the two sides were connected, but when i was there it was low enough to hike in the path of land between the water.
i hiked for two hours. i sat and meditated for another two hours. that is a story in itself and not one i likely will share publicly, but let's just say it was one of the emotionally hardest parts of my trip. i left that area and headed back to camp. i left the walking stick i had been using behind. i was on my own back. as i'm walking along, suddenly the wind picked up and spiralled around me. then settled as fast as it came up. i took a few more steps and heard.....chhhhhhhhhhhhhh...the tail of a rattlesnake.
i jumped back as i heard the rattle. registering what it was as i jumped. then, i looked down and saw in front of me...about two feet away...the tail end of a huge rattlesnake. rattle pointing to the sky on alert, but not moving anymore. the head of the snake tucked under a rock. i slowly backed up and to it's side. it still didn't move. my heart was pounding in my throat and my legs were shaking. i realized that it wasn't moving. so i slowly got my camera out of my bag and took a picture of it.
it took me 30 minutes to return back from a hike that took two hours to go out. my legs were shaking the entire way and i was actually more concerned about toppling into the water while traversing fallen logs over water than i was about the snake. when i got back to camp, i showed the picture to tim, the ex-navy seal who watched over the camp and me. "OH...that's a mohave!" i looked at him confused. "i'm from chicago, that means nothing to me," i replied. "it's the deadliest of the rattlesnakes out here. takes three vials at $3,000 a vial of anti-venom. you're lucky." he said. "it didn't even move though. i don't think i was ever in any serious danger. i was close, but all it did was rattle. he didn't even peek his head out from under the rock." i said. "true, he probably didn't want to waste his expensive venom on something too big for him to swallow." he concluded.
although the article attached to this photo says that the diamondbacks are the most dangerous: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://z.about.com/d/phoenix/1/0/q/r/1/snake15oconnor.jpg&imgrefurl=http://phoenix.about.com/od/arizonapicturesandphotos/ig/Arizona-Snakes/Arizona-Snakes-22.htm&h=377&w=500&sz=46&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=vaVmGdZUSvFGGM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmohave%2Bsnake%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
um...yeah...based on that article, i was probably "too close" because i could certainly see all of it's markings clear as day.
given these vortexes, sedona also has it's fair share of spiritual opportunists. the downtown area is commercialized spirituality at it's worst. i couldn't stand it. i literally wanted to drive off one of those beautiful cliffs or kill someone whenever i drove through town. so i stayed at my calm, serene, gorgeous campsite.
i set off along the river that bordered my campsite. it was a very rocky river bed, but low enough that i could cross back and forth a few times. the river was separated by sandy land, rocks, and trees in between it. some gaps were are as large as 100 feet. it looked like at times when the river was high, the two sides were connected, but when i was there it was low enough to hike in the path of land between the water.
i hiked for two hours. i sat and meditated for another two hours. that is a story in itself and not one i likely will share publicly, but let's just say it was one of the emotionally hardest parts of my trip. i left that area and headed back to camp. i left the walking stick i had been using behind. i was on my own back. as i'm walking along, suddenly the wind picked up and spiralled around me. then settled as fast as it came up. i took a few more steps and heard.....chhhhhhhhhhhhhh...the tail of a rattlesnake.
i jumped back as i heard the rattle. registering what it was as i jumped. then, i looked down and saw in front of me...about two feet away...the tail end of a huge rattlesnake. rattle pointing to the sky on alert, but not moving anymore. the head of the snake tucked under a rock. i slowly backed up and to it's side. it still didn't move. my heart was pounding in my throat and my legs were shaking. i realized that it wasn't moving. so i slowly got my camera out of my bag and took a picture of it.
it took me 30 minutes to return back from a hike that took two hours to go out. my legs were shaking the entire way and i was actually more concerned about toppling into the water while traversing fallen logs over water than i was about the snake. when i got back to camp, i showed the picture to tim, the ex-navy seal who watched over the camp and me. "OH...that's a mohave!" i looked at him confused. "i'm from chicago, that means nothing to me," i replied. "it's the deadliest of the rattlesnakes out here. takes three vials at $3,000 a vial of anti-venom. you're lucky." he said. "it didn't even move though. i don't think i was ever in any serious danger. i was close, but all it did was rattle. he didn't even peek his head out from under the rock." i said. "true, he probably didn't want to waste his expensive venom on something too big for him to swallow." he concluded.
although the article attached to this photo says that the diamondbacks are the most dangerous: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://z.about.com/d/phoenix/1/0/q/r/1/snake15oconnor.jpg&imgrefurl=http://phoenix.about.com/od/arizonapicturesandphotos/ig/Arizona-Snakes/Arizona-Snakes-22.htm&h=377&w=500&sz=46&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=vaVmGdZUSvFGGM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmohave%2Bsnake%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
um...yeah...based on that article, i was probably "too close" because i could certainly see all of it's markings clear as day.