Nature Walk: Part II

On the walk back on our little hike we encountered something you don't see everyday or even in a lifetime for some people. Here is the best picture I got considering I didn't want to get any closer and I was freaked out. Look very closely down the trail in the middle of the trail and you will see something sticking up or should I say two things sticking up. So I decided to write a dialogue of what happened but beware it is really long.Here is how it went.
*Walking along, Becky wasn't paying attention. Looking back or to the the lake or something,.
Jeff: WOAH!!! (stops walking abrubtly and pointing ahead)
Becky: (turns around) What?
Jeff: Those are two rattlesnakes right there
*Becky looks and what at first appeared to be a giant stick sticking up then started to move
Becky: WOAH!! What do we do? (Starting to breath heavily and eyes widen)
Jeff: Don't move
*Becky moves backwards
Jeff: Rhona sit!!
*Rhona finally noticed what we were looking at and wanted to play with them. She didn't bark but Jeff held her back and she relaxed and just sat and waited with us.
Jeff: What are they doing, mating??
*There was two standing uprightly and wrapped around each other hissing and snapping at each other and you could hear their rattles!
Becky: I don't know
Jeff: I think it's a territorial battle
Becky: It's is going to get dark soon and who knows how long they could be doing this
*Becky and Jeff both turn there heads around and they hear more rustling in the bushes behind them
Jeff: O please hurry snakes I don't want any more coming out
*We watched them for about 10 minutes fighting until one pushed the other over the edge into the water. It was quite for a few minutes.
*We waited another few minutes and took a few steps closer to see if the other one was still there or it fell over too.
Jeff: (whispering) Is that is?
Becky: Yep that's it, Oh and it's moving again.
Jeff: Look there's it's huge rattle.
Becky: ah gross.......
*We watched it SLOWLY slither across the path to the side of the mountain and slither up the side a little. We took a few steps closer very quietly and slowly.
Becky: (whispering) That thing is 4 feet long!
Jeff: (whispering) We are never coming here again!
*Rattling in the bushes (actually rattling of a rattle snake) up above where the snake was for about 15 seconds.
Becky: There is so another one up there!
Becky: Oh I think it is going into it's burrow. Yep it is.
*When it was half way into it's burrow we walked very slowly and carefully past it, not taking our eyes off of it. Stopping twice when it stopped moving. It could definitely hear us. When safely pasted it we picked up the pace a little still watching every thing around us and ahead of us. Paranoid by every noise in the bushes! And there was a lot! We heard noise in the bushes about 15 times as we were walking to the reservoir and some of the times it was probably just lizards but I guarantee that some of those were rattlesnakes.
Jeff: Okay so that was scarier than the scariest movie I have ever seen!
Becky: Uh Yeah! I can't believe how big that thing was!
Jeff: Slow down
Becky: I just want to get to the car!
Jeff: Ya well I don't want to get bitten by a rattlesnake and so we need to watch where we are going.
*We arrived at the car safely and glad we were still alive.

The two snakes were seriously 4 feet long I am not exaggerating and they were black. I looked them up when I got home and they are called Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes. Here is a picture from online so you get the idea of what they really look like since I was too scared to take a picture myself during the scene. This is exactly what it looked like!! EEWWWW!!!!

Here is a video of them fighting. It isn't very good and doesn't do it justice because I took it from 20 feet away but you get the idea a little. Sorry you have to tilt your head or computer to see it.