I hate snakes. Always have. One of my earliest memories is of my older brother playing with snakes and it scared me. I have hated them ever since. This is something that Chris and I recently found out we had in common after nine years of marriage. We are still learning knew stuff about each other.

A month or so ago we were coming down Dry Canyon after our favorite (and let's be honest the best) mountain bike ride around. Some hikers were stopped on the side of the trail warning Chris of a rattlesnake. I caught up to him (I have to walk the area by the pipe where Chris rides the pipe hence he was in front of me) while he was looking at it. I handed him my phone to try and get a picture but it started retreating into the brush and it made it presence known. As soon as we heard his rattle we were done--no picture needed. From that time on, we have had to announce every snake we see on the trail and they are EVERYWHERE these days.

Now neither one of us is a connoisseur of snakes. Obviously little ones are not as scary once they have been deemed little. They do always tend to startle me. So while coming down the dirt road above Timp Park culminating our ride last night I see a little not so scary snake. I, of course, call it out. Chris is stopped just around the corner looking at yet another bigger snake. This one is in my opinion medium in size. We are looking at it. Chris makes a comment about wondering what kind it is. I share his sentiments.

Then he says something about it not being very big and not thinking it is anything of concern. We are still watching it, I am snapping a photo or two. As it is sliding away into the brush, we hear its rattle. Yep, she was a rattler. We, of course, jump on our bikes and get out of there. We hate snakes!

Rattlesnake just above Timp Park in Provo Canyon

Pictures from Snowbird--thanks Kris and Jolene

Finishing my race at Snowbird

Chris at Snowbird