Yes It Was A Rattle Snake

The snake itself was 4 feet long and about 3 inches

in diameter. He was one big snake.

***If you click on the pictures you can see it up close and personal.

It wasn't a Eastern Diamondback Rattler, thankfully, but a Timber Rattler. Timber Rattlers are less aggressive and very docile. It seemed to be about 8 years old making it mature and deadly. You can count the number of buttons on the rattle to determine the age. 1 button for every year. Technically they are only poisonous 60% of the time. 30% of the time they will have dry strikes, where they bite without releasing any poison. 

Shaggy found it first only 3 feet in front of us on the trail. It shook it's rattle to let us know it was there but never even turned towards us. After we all gathered around it, it slowly made it's way across the path and through the little creek on our left. There it found a large rock to sun itself. It was quite awesome to see this creature in it's natural habitat. 4 other Rattlers were sighted on the trail. This is a very active season for them until the end of Sept. So there you have it. Put me in the ocean and I am terrified of sharks but give me a poisonous snake any day. We finished climbing the mountain and made it home safe and sound. I know what the boys are going to tell their classmates today about.