July 1, 2004

An hour into my hike today, I passed TWO rattlesnakes.  One was on the right and the second one was on my upper left.  As I approached a boulder field, Bear was waiting for me.  "What's up?"  I asked.  As Bear described the whereabouts of the rattlesnakes, I pondered whether or not to go first. Bear had just escorted a 78 year-old man named WonderLost through the snake maze. 

"I'll go first,"  I said. 

"Are you sure,"  said Bear. 

"No,"  I replied.  "You go first."

"Will you make up your mind," said Bear. "We really need to get moving." "O.K., O.K., I'll go first."

"Can we get a picture?"

"Ladybug, let's get past them first," said Bear.

"O.K., but in the event of an emergency, my snake bite kit and epi-pen are in my top pouch," I said.

"There won't be any emergencies, now go," Bear said.

So I VERY carefully hiked past the first one and Bear verbally steered me past the second one.  I am clumsy on the boulders because until this trip, I was new to hiking.  I controlled every step and made certain that my hiking poles only touched visual areas.  I was equally scared for Bear as he hiked across the boulders.  We each wondered if other rattlesnakes were nearby and we both breathed sighs of relief after passing the venomous snakes.