That was a nice big one. I love watching them and try not to scare them. I sat and watched one in the Los Padres National Forest for a while and saw it yawn. That was pretty cool. When I was a young and ignorant teenager we used to kill them. My buddies and I killed one, skinned it and then thought it would be a good idea to eat it. It wasn't too bad sauteed in some butter. They are gentle creatures that just deserve to be left alone.
I used to be like that too, I just never ate one. I grew up back east though and I never really saw any rattlers. But we used to kill other snakes for no good reason. That's really cool that you saw one yawn. I would love to do some exploring of Los Padres, I really want to summit Mount Pinos, it looks like a great mountain to hike from the freeway!
@@hikingwChris I grew up in Ojai so the Los Padres National Forest was my backyard. Mt. Pinos is a pretty easy hike. The Chula Vista walk-in campground is really nice and you can easily day hike to the summit. I always wanted to go to Sheep Camp but just haven't gotten to it yet.
@@rickkaylor8554 the entire area is completely unknown to me, I'm sure that I will absolutely love it though. I will have to remember Sheep Camp. Thanks for the great comments, as usual!
As a kid growing up in California, I saw one at least twice as long crossing a dirt trail.
Wow, that must have been an amazing sight!
Lovely
Thanks!
That was a nice big one. I love watching them and try not to scare them. I sat and watched one in the Los Padres National Forest for a while and saw it yawn. That was pretty cool. When I was a young and ignorant teenager we used to kill them. My buddies and I killed one, skinned it and then thought it would be a good idea to eat it. It wasn't too bad sauteed in some butter. They are gentle creatures that just deserve to be left alone.
I used to be like that too, I just never ate one. I grew up back east though and I never really saw any rattlers. But we used to kill other snakes for no good reason. That's really cool that you saw one yawn. I would love to do some exploring of Los Padres, I really want to summit Mount Pinos, it looks like a great mountain to hike from the freeway!
@@hikingwChris I grew up in Ojai so the Los Padres National Forest was my backyard. Mt. Pinos is a pretty easy hike. The Chula Vista walk-in campground is really nice and you can easily day hike to the summit. I always wanted to go to Sheep Camp but just haven't gotten to it yet.
@@rickkaylor8554 the entire area is completely unknown to me, I'm sure that I will absolutely love it though. I will have to remember Sheep Camp. Thanks for the great comments, as usual!