May 25 - Punch Bowl Mountain

From PJ:

Sad, but this was one tough kid. I'm at the top of Punch Bowl Mountain. I'm sweating buckets.

Just had a standoff with a Rattlesnake.

Got a photo and video, but signal isn't strong enough to send right now.

I didn't even realize it was a rattler til after I moved it with my trekking pole.

I got by.

He was sunbathing. He was black, so I thought it was another rat snake, but when I flipped him I could see more of a typical rattler pattern. Then he rattled his tail, and I ran like a little schoolgirl.

rattlesnake

800 Miles

The snake doesn't look like a rattlesnake, but in the video, you can hear the rattle.

I also saw some cool frogs/taods today. I should be able to send out some pics in the morning. Yeah, I didn't know rattlesnakes could be black, but I googled it to be sure, and saw some photos.

This one looked like a young one, which are more dangerous than adults. They don't know how to control the amount of venom they release, so they end up letting it all out.

This snake acted differently than other snakes I've encountered, too. Usually, the rat snakes slither away as you approach them. This one coiled up after I poked it, and it wouldn't move.

The video is pretty funny, too. The camerawork sucks, but you can hear the rattle and then me freaking out.

Finished up today at mile 807. Had to do a couple extra miles because there was nowhere to camp.

Oh - also I twisted my ankle today. Not too bad. I put a brace on it. It's a little swollen and bruised, but nothing major. One more big day tomorrow, and then some 12-15 mile days this weekend. Patriot's friends from home are coming and bringing a bunch of real food for us so that will be fun.

I'm actually really proud of how my ankles are holding up. If that happened last year before I started training for this hike, I definitely would have at least sprained if not broken it...

Or maybe there's just so much scar tissue that it holds my ankle in place.