Western Rattlesnake

Western Rattlesnake

For the past 38 years we have made dozens of trips to the desert Southwest spending hundreds of days and some nights traipsing around in all kinds of places. This is only the second rattlesnake I have seen in all that time!

To be fair, they are not the only rattlesnakes I have seen in the wild. Growing up in Oregon and spending so much time on the breaks of the Deschutes River in Central Oregon, I encountered many during those years. I also encountered many during a summer I worked as a soil technician on an earthfill dam in Southern Utah during my University days. But from 1978 until now this the second rattlesnake I have seen in the wild!

This one was hiding under a ledge along side the trail to Step House in Mesa Verde National Park. He was trying to stay hidden and out of the sun and was not in a threatening mode at all, even though he is coiled ready to strike. He never rattled or made any sort of a move and kept his head down against the rock the entire time I was there. However, every time someone walked by, his head followed them and then came back to a neutral location!

Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis), Step House, Wetherill Mesa, Mesa Verde National Park, Montezuma County, Colorado, USA, July 18, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 55mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/8 for 1/125 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.