This was my second time up Sutton Mountain this summer. My friend and I decided we'd do a sunset hike to avoid the heat. The weather was perfect. We knew we'd be coming down in the dark, so we brought headlamps along.

At the beginning of the hike we chatted happily about life and enjoyed the view. Before long, the conversation turned to rattlesnakes. Neither of us had considered the possibility of encountering one. I wasn't too worried because the sun was going down.  I assumed that was when they hunkered down for the night as the temperatures dropped.  My friend let me know that rattlesnakes come out at night to hunt. Then we noticed how tall the grass was on the old jeep track we were following and immediately felt fear. We continued on anyway.

All the way to the summit, we stomped our feet, made up songs, and jumped over dangerous looking grassy areas to avoid snakes. The ridiculousness of all of it made us laugh, but we were scared!

On the way down from the summit, we switched on our headlamps and could see so much better! It was easy to see right through the grass. Eventually, our fear disappeared and our conversation turned back to work, family, and dreams. With our guards finally down, we relaxed and enjoyed the nighttime hike.

We were a mile away from the car when we crossed paths with two snakes in the middle of the road. (SCREAM!!!)

We had completely forgotten about our fear and rattlesnakes. That last mile was a doozy! We scanned left and right with our headlamps as we hiked, hopped and jumped away from tall grass, until we made it safely to the car.

Side note: After lots of inquiry, we don't think those snakes were rattlesnakes afterall. 🤣