UPDATE: My friend Hallie emailed me this – “… The hills are full of them now. Sue and I encountered four on a hike on Skunnemunk. I almost stepped on one in Harriman."
Amazing. A six person hike – Tom & Brigid, Damian and Jeanne Marie, their daughter Kathleen and her boyfriend Drew.
On our way back from our 6 mile plus round trip hike to Lake Awosting in Minnewaska State Park ( 20 minutes west of New Paltz, in the Gunks).
I was 20 yards behind Kathleen and Drew, when they stopped and I caught up with them – Drew turned around and said “There’s a big ass rattlesnake here.” And so there was, crawling slowly across the trail. Kathleen almost stepped on him (her?).
You can just make out the head in the upper right hand corner of this picture – see the two eyes? There’s a black oval marker behind and below the right eye.
And here’s the tail, with about 11 rattles, indicating the snake is eight or nine years old.
It was definitely a timber rattlesnake, go here and here to ID.
They have a lifespan of 16-22 years. Some excerpts from the two links –
Measuring from 3-4.5 feet (91-137 cm) or more in length, the timber rattlesnake is the largest venomous snake in New York. The record length is 74 ½ inches (189 cm). Timber rattlers impress one as being very stocky; they are large snakes.
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Although still fairly common in some local areas, the timber rattlesnake has been extirpated or greatly reduced in numbers in most areas where it was once numerous due to unregulated collection and indiscriminate killing. A contributing factor was the bounty system under which a reward was paid for each timber rattler killed. Bounties were outlawed in New York State in 1971.
And this –
Potentially, this is one of North America’s most dangerous snakes, due to its long fangs, impressive size, and high venom yield. This is to some degree offset by its relatively mild disposition[29] and long brumation period. Before striking, they often perform a good deal of preliminary rattling and feinting
The snake was oblivious to us. Unfortunately Brigid, Damian and Jeanne Marie were further back on the trail and didn’t see the snake. I thought the snake was about 3 and a half feet. When we got back to the car I asked Drew what he thought and he said “three to four feet.” in looking at the pictures, i do think the snake was closer to four feet. And a pretty wide body.
We were happy to let Kathleen continue to lead the hike back to our cars …
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