On the trail, we saw this two-foot long Timber Rattler. There are seven rattles on its tail. It didn't want to move from its spot, so we had to edge around it on the other side of the trail. (There was no way to detour around it because of the terrain.) When Alan and I hike together, I always go in front. When I saw the triangular head on this snake, I had a VERY fast reaction. I didn't know exactly what it was, but I knew it was trouble. Alan immediately said, "Now THAT is a Timber Rattler." He thought it was cool, getting close enough to get pictures, over my objections.
There were a lot of wildflowers, yet. The Mountain Laurel were in full bloom, so they were particularly pretty.
There were several cars bodies from the 40's next to the trail. Before the dam was built, it was a NC highway. During WW II, the people couldn't get tires for the cars, plus they couldn't get the cars to the other side of the dam, so they abandoned them.
We had a great time, although I could have done without the rattlesnake.
7 comments:
The snake looks longer than 2 feet!!! I love seeing your pictures. What a beautiful place to hike and camp. Charlotte
Glad we never encountered any snakes, let alone a rattler in our hiking experiences. Looks like a beautiful area to enjoy. Haven't found any woodsy areas in Kansas to date. Love Mountain Laurel....beautiful! Thanks for the update Dolores
Looks like you had a great time! We hiked to Mt LeConte & stayed at the lodge May 15th. We didn't see any snakes (thankfully) and agree that's a beautiful area to hike. Doreen
I really enjoyed reading your blog and seeing the pictures. Seeing the abandoned cars would be a curious surprise if you didn't know the background. Glad you had a good time. Rosemary
Alan has this book called "History Hikes of the Smokies." He chose the hike because of the historic and scenic value (and because it wasn't very difficult). The book had commentary on the history of the things along the trail, which we read about as we hiked. It was the first of the hikes from the book that we have done. I am sure that we will do more of them.
The snake picture is cropped. We weren't as close to it as it appears. Alan was about four feet away when he took the picture.
I agree with Alan, the snake was really cool. 99.9% of the time, you'll have to corner or step on the snake for it to be a problem, distance and respect are always the order of the day. Nice photo's indeed...
Ed
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