Western Railroad Discussion > SNAKES

I've been watching some videos on venomous snakes.  The Diamondback Rattlesnake is probably the most prevalent snake in the Mojave Desert and has very potent venom.  Has anyone had a snake encounter while hiking and if so, what was the experience like?  TIA

Kent in CArmel Valley

DynamicBrake Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been watching some videos on venomous
> snakes.  The Diamondback Rattlesnake is probably
> the most prevalent snake in the Mojave Desert and
> has very potent venom.  Has anyone had a snake
> encounter while hiking and if so, what was the
> experience like?  TIA
>
> Kent in CArmel Valley

The Mojave desert has a sub species known as the Mojave Green snake. Have seen these many times in the early morning and late afternoons. These reptiles usually curl up to the rail because the retention of heat to warm their bodies. Apparently their venom is very potent. Have seen sidewinders as well.

Posted from Android

I have encountered all of the above in the Mojave.  They always try to take the low road, so to speak, and really wish to be left alone.  From my understanding, most bites come from folks messing with them.  My encounters have been almost exclusively in the morning and evening.  Morning hours, they are kind of lethargic until they get some sun.  In the evening they are quite active, as the desert starts to cool down.  They are more common near rocks, drainages, and shady places in the afternoon, so be careful thrashing about those areas.  For all but the baby rattlers, listen for their warning rattle, though its not always presented.  Use common senses and leave them alone.

When I was a teenager we'd catch them and sell them to the anti-venom lab.
All we needed was a "Y" shaped stick and a potato sack.
Between them and the scorpions and tarantulas we made righteous bucks.
And all this while watching 100 MPH Santa Fe passenger at the ranch in Newberry Springs (CA).
What an experience.
TAH

Also a Southern Pacific rattle snake.

They have nothing to gain from an encounter, so given the chance they'll warn you if you get too close. Springtime they seem to be most active, I've seen them in Cajon pass, at the lower elevations of Tehachapi pass and in the Cienega creek area of Arizona. 
Also a tiny coiled baby one at Cadiz. They spend a lot of time just coiled up.

Don't run through grassy/vegetated areas and watch carefully if stepping over rocks. They're beautiful creatures, perfectly adapted to their environment.

when i worked for the BN picking up jointed rail in nebr in the am some snakes would get startled, woken up which in turn rattled me, i never Id'd them be a few feet away, of course on the shoulder i parked at the bridge north of Nunn, colo and ran around the car to which i was greeted by a rattle, yelled at my friend Jude not to get out!   Colorado monly has 3 types, you want to know for the correct anti venom i think still.  A friend was bitten in OK biking, he choose to ride it out in the ER , he was told you could only get anti venom once., he think he has antibodies now?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/26 10:20 by dan.

I quit looking for them a long time ago. They are almost impossible to see and they usually avoid you anyway. I have literlally stood inches away from them and not been bit. In certain temperature conditions you are virtually snake free. If you live or prowl around snake habitats you will see your share  and that has been my domain since birth.. Bill Webb 

In well over 50 years of railfanning the deserts in California (and a few other states), I've only encountered a handful of rattlers.  As others have said, they want to avoid you, but you still cannot be too careless around them.  (And the young snakes are the worst, as a friend of mine found out a few years ago in Utah ... but he just got grazed.)

Here is the last one I encountered, in Cajon Pass CA in 2018, just laying in the dirt road we took to Hill 582.  It was sunning itself and didn't want to move, so one of us stayed out of the car to help me drive around it, as it wasn't giving us much room.  But we got by it without harming it.

Craig Walker

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I've worked along the tracks in the Mojave for 20+ years and can count on one hand the number of times I've 'stumbled' across a snake.

If you're part of a group, the saying goes, "The first one startles the snake, the second one makes it angry, and the third guy gets bit".   

CrossTieWalker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In well over 50 years of railfanning the deserts
> in California (and a few other states), I've only
> encountered a handful of rattlers.  As others
> have said, they want to avoid you, but you still
> cannot be too careless around them.  (And the
> young snakes are the worst, as a friend of mine
> found out a few years ago in Utah ... but he just
> got grazed.)
>
> Here is the last one I encountered, in Cajon Pass
> CA in 2018, just laying in the dirt road we took
> to Hill 582.  It was sunning itself and didn't
> want to move, so one of us stayed out of the car
> to help me drive around it, as it wasn't giving us
> much room.  But we got by it without harming it.
>

There are 7 species of rattlesnakes in CA. That looks like a southern pacfic rattler. Appropriate!

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DynamicBrake Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I've been watching some videos on venomous
> > snakes.  The Diamondback Rattlesnake is
> probably
> > the most prevalent snake in the Mojave Desert
> and
> > has very potent venom.  Has anyone had a snake
> > encounter while hiking and if so, what was the
> > experience like?  TIA
> >
> > Kent in CArmel Valley
>
> The Mojave desert has a sub species known as the
> Mojave Green snake. Have seen these many times in
> the early morning and late afternoons. These
> reptiles usually curl up to the rail because the
> retention of heat to warm their bodies. Apparently
> their venom is very potent. Have seen sidewinders
> as well.
>
> Posted from Android


The Mojave Greens are also very agressive, they're not afraid of humans.

In my experiences out of the 20 or so times I’ve been out to the pinnacles on the Trona Railway I/we have only came across three rattlesnakes. They’ve all been juveniles and in the same general area. I’m pretty confident there’s a pretty solid population on that rocky hill. As for Tehachapi, all my encounters have been as stated on a previous reply in the lower elevations. Allard and especially Illmon are pretty loaded if you go hiking the hilltops. The funny thing is I’ve never came across one while hiking through the grass. It’s always been when I’ve been to my photo location and I’m just waiting for trains they come crawling by. I always wear snake gaitors when on those no trail hikes. As for Cajon only one and that was back when the tunnels were still there, me and my friend we’re going to get in the shade of the tunnel because it was blazing hot out. One step in and there was a big rattler, back out in the sun we went.

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DynamicBrake Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I've been watching some videos on venomous
> > snakes.  The Diamondback Rattlesnake is
> probably
> > the most prevalent snake in the Mojave Desert
> and
> > has very potent venom.  Has anyone had a snake
> > encounter while hiking and if so, what was the
> > experience like?  TIA
> >
> > Kent in CArmel Valley
>
> The Mojave desert has a sub species known as the
> Mojave Green snake. Have seen these many times in
> the early morning and late afternoons. These
> reptiles usually curl up to the rail because the
> retention of heat to warm their bodies. Apparently
> their venom is very potent. Have seen sidewinders
> as well.
>
> Posted from Android

Hey Dag, I just sent you a PM.

Brian B.

This guy gave us a photo runby while we were parked off of Old US66 across from Cajon siding back in June, 1990. (Heavily-cropped photo was taken from some distance away.) This is the one and only snake encounter I've had while railfanning Cajon Pass.
GK 

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This is Cerrillos/Galisteo, New Mexico, on the Glorieta Sub but I had to add my two cents. A beautiful western diamondback soaking up the sun on November 1st (!) back in 2015. Quite late in the season. This is the only rattlesnake I have encountered railfanning during my 35+ years running around New Mexico. Hiking in the Albuquerque foothills is another matter.

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DynamicBrake Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been watching some videos on venomous
> snakes.  The Diamondback Rattlesnake is probably
> the most prevalent snake in the Mojave Desert and
> has very potent venom.  Has anyone had a snake
> encounter while hiking and if so, what was the
> experience like?  TIA
>
> Kent in CArmel Valley

I have encountered plenty of snakes. I think ive seen more sidewinders versus traditional rattlers. Plenty of rat snakes too. 

In one of my visits to Tehachapi, I hiked in along the ROW from Bealville, past whichever tunnel it was that got daylighted after the 1952 earthquake. I spent a few hours sitting in tall, green grass on the hillside above the former tunnel. Great sunny day, light breeze, perfect for photos. 

There was a guy walking his dog along the ROW, and suddenly a rattlesnake struck at the dog. The dog went airborne (seemed to be jumping straight up somehow) and the snake missed. Just barely. 

The owner was surprisingly calm about it. I think he was a local, may have encountered snakes before. . I, on the other hand, spent the next few hours thinking about how I had probably walked right past the snake an hour or so earlier.  And I'm nowhere near as athletic as that dog was. A very strange ending for what had been an idyllic day. 

I later found out that the remains of the tunnel are a major denning site for Mojave rattlers. 

I was dove hunting one day  in central Texas,  Going to park my pickup and came upon a 6 ft rattler stretched out on the road sick from the white gravel road and  107 degree heat.  My 12 guage ended its problem. When sun goes down on a hot day about 9 PM you can find them on country roads .  I have seen stupid people try to chase them thru about 5-6 inch grass (and a little drunk) and you had to quickly tell them how stupid they are and you can't see rattlers in that grass.   .

Water moccasins in East Texas that were nearly underfoot exiting a hirail, bears in PA and New Hampshire while inspecting track, a bull elk that challenged a hirail in Washington, no rattlesnakes - yet.