Old Homesteads and Rattlesnake Hunters

Traveling on the back roads of the Old West is one of my favorite pass times.  Nothing triggers my longing to explore like abandoned homesteads and tiny old time towns.  I can feel the history of each place lingering in the air, the voices of children playing by the waters edge.  

Homestead at Coffee Pot Lake

 I hear the voices in the soft winds rustling in the leaves.

I can see the farm animals who sustained the family meandering to the barn for the evening hay.

 Abandoned corrals and a rock fencepost square 

                                                   evidence of by gone times

Yet the day calls me back to the present. 

We picnic by the lake.

We watch as fisherman come and go.  Some catching fish, others moving on. 

Then the real excitement begins.  Two teens arrive and unload their truck of supplies.  They are rattlesnake hunters. They are working on a school project to catch, identify,  and measure rattlesnakes.  Let the show begin.   

With long sticks they search the rocks and bushes for snakes.

First snake of the day.....

                a bullsnake.

A picture and back into the wild.

 On to other catches.....      Can you see it?   Can you get it?     

It is a Western Pacific Diamondback Rattlesnake..... It has 10 rattles.

Rattlesnakes strike from this coiled up position.  In this picture the snake is shaking the rattle which made a soft rattling sound but, they don't always warn before striking.  They hold the snake to measure it and I touch the skin which is not cool but not slimy. 

I've had enough science lessons for the day...... we're off to safer ground.

At the Cowboy Cafe in Davenport Washington

The perfect ending to a Wild West Day.......