W7A/PE-037 (4976)

This summit is, at least on the western face, encircled by some sort of protected area; Pima county has it fenced off and locked. It took me two separate attempts to figure the best way to get to this summit. I had to hike a bit more, but it was worth it.

As you can see it the pictures, there is a running stream and the area was nice and green, with very tall grass, which I hate hiking through. The reason I hate hiking in tall grass, is that you never know what is lurking in there. On this occasion, I happened upon a green Mojave rattlesnake; the second snake of the SOTA season. I know that seeing only two snakes after hiking the desert the entire summer is pretty low (I had one on my porch on week 2 in my new house), it was how I found the snake that gave me pause.

I use a painter's pole as a hiking stick/antenna mast. When I am hiking in grass and scrub I bounce the pole ahead of me like a blind man's cane. I do this with the hope that if there is anything in the grass, it will either run off or sound off. The green Mojave sounded off, but it sounded more like a cicada than a rattlesnake. I knew however that this "cicada" was one I needed to pay attention too. So I stopped and took bent a bit to see what was there and sure enough, the little guy was in the ready position, waiting for me to get closer.

The lesson: the rattle may not be loud.

The rest of the activation went without a hitch. Clouds did start to build as you can see in the pictures, but I managed to get packed up and back to the truck before it started to rain.