Alright, so the ultimate woodsman Tom Elefante invited me out for a little hiking and snake hunting at an undisclosed location! :D
This is Tom's home away from home, and I really appreciate him letting me tag along to such a special place.
The landscape is incredibly beautiful, the elevated views simply breathtaking, and the observation of such pristine wildlife utterly surreal.
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...and although I'm sure there's no doubt I could write several thousand words to describe the trip, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking! :)
Tom, his friend John, and I met up around 9:00AM to start our hike. John only had two hours to spend before he had to return home, so Tom planned the hike out accordingly.
Here's Tom, ready to start the day off right!
A little bit of woods as we hiked up and along the mountain side...
And as we reached our first destination, a nice mountain top lake!
Beautiful view...
And we came to a nice little homestead nearby with an old fireplace still standing...
Some great workmanship!
And then we came to this fireplace...see anything interesting?
Oh boy...that didn't take long...the snake master already has us on em!
Actually this black rat snake was a welcomed surprise...Tom had high hopes for the rattlesnake spots!
Uh oh...Tom has that look in his eyes! Snake catching time!!!
I was asking how the snake got up there in the first place...well, apparently he had a hole nearby!
Tom tried to coax him out...
But didn't want to hurt him...so he let him go. So close...but a great sign!
Moving on, we find another homestead and fireplace...amazing how those fireplaces are the last thing standing!
As we head on to another area, a spot a little bit of history's mark...very cool!
We hike along and come to an absolutely massive migration of tiny frogs!
They were everywhere!
I mean 1000s, probably 10,000s!
Here's a nice point of reference...very small!
Then we came across this little dude...who was feeding on his own kind! Definitely taking advantage of the migration!
Along the way, I spot remains of these eggs...
And the hole they came from...
Tom investigates, and is still determining the egg's turtle species.
And another pile of egg remnants nearby...
We move on and hike up a clearcut trail...
Then hike off into the woods and come across this colorful creature!
A little closer for the camera...
And we are back on our way after returning the orange newt where we found him.
Beautiful woods up there, a welcomed change from the pines I'm used to! :)
Then we finally reach Tom's Playground...aka Rattlesnake Country!
We let time take the lead, as we stay on the open rocks...well I was staying on the open rocks because I'm basically a rattlesnake sissy! Haha
John taking a look around...
Tom cruising in search mode!
Tom, looking around...
Anything under there?
Here's a video (poor quality really) of Tom in search mode!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baSvJFAQIfM
John's in the distance a bit...when he hears a RATTLE and spots one!
Tom rushes over rock jumping like an Olympic hurdler to get the snake, but he retreats to his hiding place in a crevasse.
Tom wisely didn't want to pursue him in there, so we backed off.
I did get a small video of the encounter, but it didn't come out all that great...but here it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQgVm0iotDs
After the narrow snake escape, I took a moment to grab a pic of the view...quite nice!
And we kept on hiking...Tom was in all out mission mode!
We came to this nice little funnel area...
And up the ridgetop again, we came to this scenic lookout!
As well as remnants of a great hunter that roams these parts every fall and winter! ;)
Heading over to the point...
Another view...
And the lookout...
Another angle overlooking the treetops!
And a vulture in the distance...
Now that's a little bit of a drop!
We actually spotted some turkeys right around here where we're standing...very surprised to see them up so high.
Couldn't manage any shots of them though.
Well after that, John had to head on out...so he went on his way back to the vehicles, as Tom and I continued onward.
We came up a rock ledge to this topside, which years ago was barren...and now as rejuvenated with new growth!
Looks like the spiders have certainly taken up residence...as this poor fly got caught in the trap!
So...we're hiking along, working out way to some lower ground to check out some other spots Tom has on his mission agenda.
Tom steps off a rock ledge, with me right behind him...we stop for a mere second or two when turn around to see this badboy!
Tom getting in position...
Ummm...yeah, he REALLY IS reaching for the rattler!
Tom is CRAZY! Haha
So uhhh yeah...bring him closer!
He's pissed!
Oh yeah...fang shot!!!
Little rattle action!
Tom's lovin it! Totally awesome!
So Tom puts him back where we found him...he's in strike mode and we're staying away! :)
Here's a few videos from the encounter...again, not the best of quality.
Tom, working the stick to get the snake!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krVGbWfxHHk
The rattle workin it's magic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ReqbGzCfg
And after Tom put the snake back...he wasn't too happy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pio0wEGcZD0
Alright, so after some heart pounding action for Tom...we headed on our way down the mountain!
Tom's GPS working to locate the next destination!
Nice woods...
Interesting open flat...some big canopy here as you can see by the lack of ground level growth.
Then we come to the renown Cave!
Tom checking things out...
A look inside...
The fireplace...
So we hung out for a few and then moved on for our hike out to the vehicles.
We came across a few more homesteads...including this one.
A few shots from there...
Another...
Interesting to see the window formations...
And door formations...
And again, those awesome fireplaces!
Still standing!
So we hoofed it back...and came across this pristine stream!
The other side...
And a final shot as we approach the vehicles...do you see what I see? :)
Wow, what an amazing adventure! I can't think of a better way to spend a morning than hiking a remote mountainside, that intoxicating fresh air, observing all kinds of wildlife and even catching a few! Tom truly is the ultimate outdoorsman...from his uncanny ability to find and capture those elusive rattlers, to his intimate knowledge of the mountains, wildlife, and plant life, to his intrinsic GPS-like navigation skills to get us to every destination. We had concerns regarding potential snake sightings going up given the overcast weather and previous nights rain...but we decided to give it a go and see the country anyway, and it was just awesome to have it all come together, see a few snakes and even manage to catch a rattler!
Tom, a HUGE thanks for giving me the opportunity to join you on an absolutely awesome experience! You are the man and I can't wait to get out again and see some more!
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