Apache Trail (Nov 10th)

Last Sunday, it was time for some action. So 2 brave men decided to go 'snake hunting' on the Apache Trail. Me and Orlando left around noon, the time the snakes come out to warm up in the sunlight (the are cold-blooded animals). Of course, there was Murphy, never seen so many clouds in the last 2 months. Anyway, nothing else to do, so it was a GO!

First stop was at Gold City (also called 'Ghost town'), a former Cowboy village, now mainly a tourist attraction, with cowboy shows, museums, bars and shops.

After passing another small village, the road became unpaved. From there on, we were right in the habitat of a lot of wild animals including: rattlesnakes, tarantulas, eagles... Realy promising! Aim of the game was of course spotting the snakes from inside the car (being more clear: we sitting inside, the snakes outside :p ), I find those animals very nice and fascinating, but behind glass! Orlando made the trip once before, with his family, and they spotted 6-7 snakes on the road. We made a first stop at a 'vista' point with a nice view on the canyons. Thats where we spotted the first Tarantula of the day. No snakes so far...

Continued driving, suddenly, small black snake, dead on the road, very sad but at least we saw our first one. It wasn't even a rattler... After about 10 miles unpaved road, we drove down to a lake, to have a burger at the local restaurant. There we spotted the masterpiece of the day. A snake, at least 10 meters long, green, and lying down waiting for food to pass by. Pictures below will releave you from your curiosity.

After dinner, we drove back to be home before dark. Clouds were becoming denser, no more sun coming through, no more snakes to spot. And of course, there was Murphy again. Just today, when we were driving our old Toyota (called Jimmy) on an unpaved road in the middle of the desert, it started to rain like hell (for a moment). First Cb I saw in 2 months! Why not, at least some adventure!

We survived without a snakebite, the car survived, great success!

Next time, some snakes would be nice!

grts
huts

Apache Trail (Nov 10th)