Palouse Falls State Park
Imagine my surprise! I was strolling along a path, admiring the yellow blooms of rabbit brush and the play of light and shadow on the steep canyon walls surrounding the ancient and dramatic Palouse River Falls, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I had my left leg forward, about to step down. Across the dusty path—a vertically oriented feature from my vantage point—lay something distinctly horizontal and darker than the dirt and bunch grasses leaning over the trail. In a heartbeat I knew it was a snake. Half a heartbeat later a question flashed in my mind, “Is it a rattler?” Rattlesnakes are common in this region and are particularly likely to be found out sunning themselves on autumn mornings just like this one, when the day dawns cold but warms by lunchtime. I had just finished cautioning everyone on the bus as we approached the state park to be conscious of where they placed their hands and feet for just this reason. As adrenalin raced through my veins in a primal response to potential danger, my gaze shifted quickly to the tail of the reptile stretched out just inches from my legs. To my immense relief, there were no rattles—whew! I stepped over the snake and, once my heart stopped pounding in my chest, called others over to get a look.
It was a respectable snake at perhaps four feet in length. Since we did not have a reptile identification resource along with us, we snapped pictures of the snake’s head as this is the part of the body most likely to yield reliable clues for accurate ID. Upon returning to the Sea Bird, we consulted our shipboard library and determined, based on the markings on the head and a map of species distribution, that we had encountered a Great Basin Gopher Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus deserticola). The description indicated that this diurnal species primarily eats rodents, rabbits, birds and their eggs and sometimes insects and lizards. It is non-venomous, kills by constriction and is sometimes mistaken for a rattlesnake due to its habit of mimicking rattler behavior when agitated. The Gopher Snake is so good at this deception that it is sometimes mis-identified by people and killed out of fear.
Sighting this beautiful snake was just one of many wonderful moments during our time spent exploring the Palouse River region. Kayaking and Zodiac tours rounded out a full morning of fun and adventure before we got underway and went west towards the mighty Columbia down which river? Why, the Snake, of course!
Imagine my surprise! I was strolling along a path, admiring the yellow blooms of rabbit brush and the play of light and shadow on the steep canyon walls surrounding the ancient and dramatic Palouse River Falls, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I had my left leg forward, about to step down. Across the dusty path—a vertically oriented feature from my vantage point—lay something distinctly horizontal and darker than the dirt and bunch grasses leaning over the trail. In a heartbeat I knew it was a snake. Half a heartbeat later a question flashed in my mind, “Is it a rattler?” Rattlesnakes are common in this region and are particularly likely to be found out sunning themselves on autumn mornings just like this one, when the day dawns cold but warms by lunchtime. I had just finished cautioning everyone on the bus as we approached the state park to be conscious of where they placed their hands and feet for just this reason. As adrenalin raced through my veins in a primal response to potential danger, my gaze shifted quickly to the tail of the reptile stretched out just inches from my legs. To my immense relief, there were no rattles—whew! I stepped over the snake and, once my heart stopped pounding in my chest, called others over to get a look.
It was a respectable snake at perhaps four feet in length. Since we did not have a reptile identification resource along with us, we snapped pictures of the snake’s head as this is the part of the body most likely to yield reliable clues for accurate ID. Upon returning to the Sea Bird, we consulted our shipboard library and determined, based on the markings on the head and a map of species distribution, that we had encountered a Great Basin Gopher Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus deserticola). The description indicated that this diurnal species primarily eats rodents, rabbits, birds and their eggs and sometimes insects and lizards. It is non-venomous, kills by constriction and is sometimes mistaken for a rattlesnake due to its habit of mimicking rattler behavior when agitated. The Gopher Snake is so good at this deception that it is sometimes mis-identified by people and killed out of fear.
Sighting this beautiful snake was just one of many wonderful moments during our time spent exploring the Palouse River region. Kayaking and Zodiac tours rounded out a full morning of fun and adventure before we got underway and went west towards the mighty Columbia down which river? Why, the Snake, of course!
