Friends in Low Places

I went hiking yesterday with the Wednesday hiking group. We had decided to try to find some natural arches in southern Kentucky. It only took us a little over an hour to get to the Daniel Boone National Forest just over the border from Tennessee. Our leader, Jim, had a list of 7 arches. Except for 1, these were not on any trails or roads. The only way to find them was through their GPS coordinates. It would involve bushwhacking.

Bushwhacking is a term that means going through the woods without benefit of a trail. In this part of the country it entails crashing through Laurel thickets and briers, going over and under downed trees, and climbing up and down rock faces. When the GPS indicated that our destination was 300 yards to the southeast, then we headed in that direction. That was the day's modus operandi for about 12 of us searching for obscure natural arches.

In contrast to bushwhacking, when you are hiking on trails, you can see where you are going and where you are going to step. Chiggers, ticks, and snakes are less of a problem on trails because you are not crashing through vegetation or climbing on rocks. Because we knew that we would be hiking off trail, this was the first time that I decided to wear my snake proof gaiters. About half of our group had similar gaiters. Now you can understand why.

After finding the first two arches we were spread out across the forest trying to find our way back to the cars. That is when we met Mr. (or Mrs.) Timber Rattlesnake pictured above. One of the hikers spotted him stretched out on the forest floor. Several of us had already passed by that area but since we were not walking in a line it is not clear how close anyone came to stepping on him. We estimated the length at a little over 3 feet long maybe 3 1/2 feet. That is the average size of males, although they may reach a maximum size of 5 feet or more. Females are slightly smaller. Without counting scales under the tail (we couldn't find a volunteer) you can't tell the sex of Timber Rattlesnakes just by looking at them.

Timber Rattlesnakes and Copperheads are the only venomous snakes in this part of the Cumberland Plateau. There are Cottonmouths and Pygmy Rattlesnakes in western Tennessee, but not here. Copperheads are less of a threat because of their smaller size, smaller amount of venom, less toxic venom and smaller fangs. Timber Rattlesnakes, however, can be somewhat dangerous because of their larger everything.

But the good news is that Timber Rattlesnakes are generally very non-aggressive and this guy seemed to verify that. The snake was calm and he just lay stretched out without moving until we surrounded him for picture taking. He then slowly moved toward a log, probably for better protection. I finally had to gently touch him with a stick to get him to coil for some different pictures. He only ever rattled very softly and only for a few seconds.

You can see the 8 rattles on his tail. Rattlesnakes get another rattle every time they shed their skin...about every year or two. With 8 rattles, we could guess that this guy is between 8 and 16 years old. But since rattles often break off, he could be up to 30 which is about their normal life span. Females aren't sexually mature until they are at least 7 and then they only have young every 3 years on average. Rattlesnakes are eaten by raptors, skunks, raccoons, other snakes, and yes, even humans.

We spent about 10 minutes photographing him from every angle. (Click on any picture for a bigger view) Then we moved on so he could get back to his priorities.

In addition to the rattlesnake we did find 5 out of the 7 arches that we set out to look for. We could have checked off the other 2, but we decided to call it a day and go for ice cream instead.