JohnnyQ
JohnnyQ
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bobbartop
January 7th, 2020 at 7:22:17 PM permalink
These go along with the Trip Report:





There's emptiness behind their eyes There's dust in all their hearts They just want to steal us all and take us all apart
TDVegas
TDVegas
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January 7th, 2020 at 7:29:22 PM permalink
Very nice. My backyard.
JohnnyQ
JohnnyQ
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January 7th, 2020 at 7:54:39 PM permalink
I thought this large rock was interesting, as far as rocks go:

There's emptiness behind their eyes There's dust in all their hearts They just want to steal us all and take us all apart
redietz
redietz
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beachbumbabsAyecarumbabobbartop
January 7th, 2020 at 10:20:36 PM permalink
I had an interesting experience on my way to Ice Box Canyon about 10 years ago. I had parked the car off the road and began the mile or so trek slightly uphill. I passed through a small clearing of rock, then entered the area with the four-foot-tall scrub brush. There was a trail through it, and I stepped into it. I was hiking alone.

Just as I stepped onto that trail, I heard a sound I interpreted as Ch-Ch-Ch, and I thought, "Oh, I'm upsetting some mother bird nearby. I'll step back." As I was stepping back, part of my mind let me know, without me quite realizing my predicament, that "I have heard that before. That is not a bird; you are in trouble."

I finished stepping back and saw, about five/six inches from where I had stepped, a really huge rattlesnake that maintained its Ch-Ch-Ch. I tend to underestimate animal sizes, and this snake was five feet long. So I took another couple of steps back, maybe four/five yards, onto some big stones in the clearing, and I gave myself a Native American couple of minutes, with me talking to the snake, thanking him/her for not striking, and just kind of taking in the moment. Then I figured it wasn't my day to hike to Ice Box Canyon, and I turned around and headed back to the car. Along the way, I saw a couple hiking in my direction, and I let them know to not take the obvious trail because a humongous rattler was hanging out.

So that was my last Ice Box Canyon experience. I need to get back there sometime. Not alone, and wearing hiking boots with snake guards, not running shoes.
"You can't breathe dead hippo waking, sleeping, and eating, and at the same time keep your precarious grip on existence."
JohnnyQ
JohnnyQ
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January 8th, 2020 at 3:44:23 AM permalink
Quote: redietz

So that was my last Ice Box Canyon experience. I need to get back there sometime. Not alone, and wearing hiking boots with snake guards, not running shoes.

Or go right now in January ? Rattlers can't be very active in these temps ? Or maybe they can ?
There's emptiness behind their eyes There's dust in all their hearts They just want to steal us all and take us all apart
billryan
billryan 
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January 8th, 2020 at 8:37:32 AM permalink
Quote: JohnnyQ

Or go right now in January ? Rattlers can't be very active in these temps ? Or maybe they can ?



In Arizona, snakes sometimes seek out parked cars as sources of warmth. Had a five foot Diamondback camp out under a lamp a few weeks ago.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
JohnnyQ
JohnnyQ
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January 13th, 2020 at 7:45:29 PM permalink
Quote: redietz

So that was my last Ice Box Canyon experience. I need to get back there sometime. Not alone, and wearing hiking boots with snake guards, not running shoes.

I'll pm you next time I am back in town.
There's emptiness behind their eyes There's dust in all their hearts They just want to steal us all and take us all apart
bobbartop
bobbartop
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January 13th, 2020 at 10:29:52 PM permalink
Quote: billryan

In Arizona, snakes sometimes seek out parked cars as sources of warmth. Had a five foot Diamondback camp out under a lamp a few weeks ago.



Pretty sure Arizona has more subspecies of rattlesnakes than any state in the union. I like rattlesnakes, I think they're pretty cool. That doesn't mean I would kiss one on the lips.

Last spring, when they were starting to come out around a local casino, I was trying to save one from the middle of the road, he was warming himself, and it was in a tough spot where traffic was just coming around a blind spot. But that's me, always trying to save animals. Suddenly the Tribal Police turned their red lights on me and pulled me over, wanting to know what I was doing. I told them. They essentially, in so many words, called me an idiot and told me next time I get a ticket. They let me go, and I drove back to the snake. Too late. Run over and bleeding.
'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.
JohnnyQ
JohnnyQ
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April 3rd, 2021 at 6:54:06 PM permalink
Went back a couple days ago. But didn't make it to the "falls". One of our hiking companions was having slot machine withdrawal. Oh well.
There's emptiness behind their eyes There's dust in all their hearts They just want to steal us all and take us all apart
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