ventana canyon trail day ender

here is a close up of that rattler that ended my progress on that trail.

ventana canyon trail - ants and a bee

i finally went on a hike today! To ventana canyon trail. i started late, i knew it was going to be a short hike. it was getting to be almost 3. gray clouds were gathering above. then all of a sudden, i heard a lazy rattle. three slow shakes. i look down to my left. what i see is represented in the final picture. yes, a rattler! i stopped immediately, and took one large step back. if it were earlier, i would have continued on cautiously. but i had other things to do. i could feel sporadic raindrops. and a venomous animal stood in my way and silently proclaimed "NONE SHALL PASS". i decided it was time to turn around.

overall, it was a great day none-the-less. so much has changed since i last went hiking. life and death. lizards galore were out, as well as tadpoles in the flowing streams. i did see a harmless gray snake earlier. all the green. despite the few scattered clouds, the sky had not been the awesome shade of surreal blue in a long time. on my way back, i was fascinated by the red-black ants who were attempting to drag a dead bee to their hive. there were many partcipants in this endeavour.

a good day indeed.