[pct-l] Pct Rattlers!

[Eric Lee]

Trew wrote:
>
Now my wife is a little more concerned tonight about, well, rattlers.  Does
anyone know of any PCT hikers that have been bitten on the trail?  I know
there is always a first for everything,  but I want to assure her snake
bites are very rare occurrences on the trail.  At least I hope that is the
case.    
>

Rattlesnake bites are indeed very rare occurrences on the PCT.  At the
moment I can't recall any stories of people being bitten at all, though I
think there must have been a couple over the last 14 years that I've been
connected to the community.  I'm quite sure that no one has died from a bite
on the PCT during that time.

If you find rattlesnakes on the PCT, please don't kill them.  Just go around
them, or carefully prod them to move with your hiking poles or something.
There's no good reason to kill them and several bad outcomes when you do.

Eric