Man bitten by rattler on trail in Loma Linda

[zippetydude]

I hate snakes.

I started up the "Jedi" trail in Loma Linda this afternoon, about 1:00, and almost immediately came across a man walking with a limp and trying to hold a makeshift tourniquet on his left leg.

I stopped as I came up to him, and he said he'd been bitten by a rattler. He pulled up his pants leg and there were two red spots, far enough apart that it must have been a big one, on his left calf.

He had no symptoms otherwise, but I stayed with him back to his car. Along the way he told me he had been on a trail, but it was narrowing down with a bit of overgrowth. He heard a hiss, then something hit his leg. He looked down and saw "a big red diamondback". He was well back into the canyon at the time, and he had to hike back over an hour before we met.

He was totally lucid, and had no shortness of breath, nausea, faintness, weakness, or anything that I could think of. We figured it must have been a dry bite. In his words, "if it were going to get me, I'd already be dead by now." Said he would go by the hospital just to check it out, but looks like he was one lucky guy.

In any case, thought I'd mention this to keep you all at high awareness this spring (and to scare FIGHT ON to death!). Watch out in those overgrown spots where you can't see much of the trail!

z

[FIGHT ON]

(and to scare FIGHT ON to death!).
z

HEY! THAT'S NOT FUNNY! I was already getting freaked out enough just by reading along and then you had to say THAT!:(
stupid snakes...

[EnFuego]

At least he was near Loma Linda hospital. Probably the best venomous bite center in the United States.

[Perry]

Yeah that is a bit of luck combined with unluckiness. A snake expert works there:
http://lomalindahealth.org/medical-cent ... index.html

[Marknhj]

What a coincidence. On Friday night I was channel surfing and started watching an Animal Planet program called "I Was Bitten". The first segment was about a guy bitten by a rattler. I missed the first few minutes, so don't know how it happened, but the guy being interviewed was just being helicoptered out to Loma Linda. The impact of the bite was truly horrific and the victim was very fortunate in being able to get to a road within 20-25 minutes and get help. The swelling made it almost impossible for him to breathe and the hospital staff, lead by Dr. Bush, had a difficult time getting a tube into him. But the worst impact was the resulting Compartment Syndrome:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartment_syndrome

To relieve it, and save the guys life, they literally sliced up his arm and hand, and left everything exposed. It was gross to see.

Since I was getting up 6 hours later to head up Skyline on my own, I made a mental note to never again watch Animal Planet prior to going to bed before a hike!

[FIGHT ON]

YOU HEAR THAT ZIP!? I saw what you wrote on the sgwa site!

SNAKE BITE!! . .

[Marknhj]

I had two close encounters yesterday morning on Skyline. I heard the first one and saw it immediately, at around 2500' on a more open part of the trail. The second, ten minutes later, went off right next to me from under a bush on a very narrow section. Scared the hell out of me

[AlanK]

I had two close encounters yesterday morning on Skyline. I heard the first one and saw it immediately, at around 2500' on a more open part of the trail. The second, ten minutes later, went off right next to me from under a bush on a very narrow section. Scared the hell out of me

I can go years without a rattlesnake encounter elsewhere, but we seem to see them every few trips on Skyline. I think the Tourist Bureau plants 'em.

[Perry]

Is that cuz they don't want sweaty hikers riding the tram cars?