utenzi

I delayed my evening hike at Occoneechee a little bit tonight. As a result, it was getting pretty damn dark by the time I was doing my second loop around the trail. That's what made it weird that this big boy was still on the trail. My vision wasn't very good since in the low light I had trouble seeing slight color variations. As a result, I almost stepped on the snake. His sudden move to get away is what made me notice him. Otherwise I'd never have seen him at all. And isn't he pretty? The darkness made it a lot easier to take macro shots of this plant. The flash lit up the parts I wanted to take the picture of and the rest of the scene was too dark to be seen. Nice. I love how startling white the puffy parts are. It's like a dandelion top.

Sometimes you cross paths with folk that you don't have much in common with but just instantly like. That was the case for me when I met Hissy here when I was hiking out of Eno River Park last night around twilight. I don't think my admiration for him was returned and soon we departed and went off in different directions. I'd like to think that both our lives were enriched by the experience but in the end I think Hissy just learned to stay away from hiking paths. You might note that I was very sweaty. For some reason, even on relatively cool days, I just shed water like it's going out of style. It's a wonder I don't just melt away. BTW, in case you're wondering what in 'ell that is around my neck, that's the keyless do-hicky for getting back into my car. I don't like the noise that car keys make jingling around in my pocket so I wear my "keys" around my neck while hiking.

While hiking today in Duke Forest I came upon a total of 4 snakes. The two small ones were happy to see me and wanted to make friends but the big ones quickly scooted away to hide. Wouldn't you think it would work the other way around?

I was hiking today in Eno River Park. Trying to drop a few pounds due to my doctor being insistent on that point. And lo and behold, I came across a friend I associate a lot more with summer hiking than winter. At first I wasn't sure if the lovely snake was alive or not. There was a bad flood here two weeks ago and plenty of dead critters can be found on the banks of the stream. But when I touched him there was a very slight shiver evident. So I picked him up. Once I'd held him for 30 seconds or so he started to warm up enough to show interest in his surroundings, namely me. Before he decided to make a snack of me---a little unlikely due to our relative sizes, but still---I figured I'd put him back down in a sunny spot where he'd stay warm for a little while longer. And so there he is, making his way amongst some roots. But given the chilly temperatures---at least for a cold blooded critter like a snake---I doubt it'll be long before he's all curled up and dorma...

I saw this fellow at Umstead Park today. He wasn't in the mood for socializing and I didn't feel like pressing the issue.

Lee and I stayed busy today. While we got off to a late start--don't ask--once we got in motion we managed to take a hike in Eno River Park, wandered the lovely Sarah Duke Garden at Duke University, and had a tasty and somewhat fattening repast at Bullocks, a Durham institution. These turtles were near a waterfall at Eno River. They don't seem to see eye-to-eye. It was funny to see them perched on that log like that, butt to butt (do turtles really have butts?). That one on the left is balanced on its belly with all 4 feet just moving away. I think it was dreaming about swimming. What a silly turtle. Just a few hundred feet down the trail from the turtles was that fellow below. He didn't seem to mind resting on my finger at all. It was kinda weird 'cause usually snakes don't like being held at first, but then settle down. This guy took to it right from the get go and really didn't seem to want to leave when I put him down. He was kinda cute too. Lee almost adopt...

I took this picture 8 days ago when I was on a hike at Morgan Creek. I thought I had posted the picture at that time--but when I went to show the picture to a co-worker, it turns out I was wrong. *gasp* So here's my snake picture. He was good sized and while snakes don't bother me, in this case I never got closer than 5 feet away. He looked a mite pissy and even non-poisonous snakes can bite.