Skyline rattlesnake bite ...

[scottmac]

One of ours? The hiker, not the snake.

From the Press Enterprise:

Rescue underway for snakebite victim

A hiker was bitten by a rattlesnake Wednesday morning, May 11, about six miles up Palm Spring’s Skyline Trail, and authorities are preparing a hoist rescue via helicopter, an official said.

At 9:50 a.m., Riverside County Sheriff's Department received a call from Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire about a hiker who had been bitten on the trail above the Palm Springs Art Museum, said Deputy Michael Vasquez.

Rescue personnel are standing by at the museum to tend to the injured hiker, he said.

[scottmac]

update with image ...

http://www.kesq.com/news/hiking-rescue-operation-underway-in-palm-springs/39491494

[zippetydude]

Well, I hated rattlers before, so I can't say this changes my opinion of them. I will say that the only thing worse than a rattler bite is a rattler bite and bad grammar. The article repeatedly uses "bit" as the past participle "bitten"! (Sorry, inner Grammar Nazi comes alive at the most ridiculous times!)

z

[Sally]

I guess I must not be very observant when I hike Skyline, because I have never seen Tahquitz Falls on that trail. Maybe in the universe where Skyline is in Tahquitz Falls, one can get bit, rather be bitten, by a rattlesnake!

[tekewin]

Unfortunate, but at least there was a quick rescue.

I like snakes, even rattlers, but have a healthy respect. Bites are usually an accident when someone doesn't see the snake and gets too close. If I go to extremely remote places with no cell reception, I just assume I will probably die if bitten (proper grammer!).

[climbant]

The last two rattlesnakes I've come across didn't even rattle, and one was fairly pissed off. Both snakes had intact rattles so that lack of warning seamed strange. I also chatted with a hiker in JT who mentioned the same issue.

[tekewin]

The last two rattlesnakes I've come across didn't even rattle, and one was fairly pissed off. Both snakes had intact rattles so that lack of warning seamed strange. I also chatted with a hiker in JT who mentioned the same issue.

Hmmm, were they small? Juvenilles are more dangerous because some haven't learned to give a proper warning. Or, maybe you just ran into some pissed off snakes

[Ed]

... I just assume I will probably die if bitten (proper grammer!).

Stop gritting your teeth, Zip! Both my current and former wife were English teachers, so I know the syndrome.

Rattlesnakes scare me. I've nearly stepped on rattlesnakes so many times, plus confrontations with ones who were into scaring me off the trail, in places where there was no alternative route. I've yet to see one on Skyline. But I always think about them when I start up on a weekday in the dark with nobody ahead of me to kick them out of the way.

[climbant]

Hmmm, were they small? Juvenilles are more dangerous because some haven't learned to give a proper warning. Or, maybe you just ran into some pissed off snakes

No, actually quite large, the most recent which was in the Morongo Preserve was about 4 feet, the other was at the top of the cove in La Quinta off the Bear Creek Oasis trail. This one was coiled up so I couldn't see the whole length but it had 5 or 6 rows on the rattle. I almost stepped on that one and it never rattled so I doubled back to get a better look, the rattle was intact. The one in La Quinta seamed almost docile, the one in Morongo wanted blood. Lol

[cynthia23]

I wish the media had given us more information about the circumstances under which this hiker was bitten and where the bite was on her body. It would help to know if she went off-trail, reached under a rock, or just stumbled across one on the trail.

I feel that I hardly ever see snakes anymore. I used to see many more. I saw one a few months ago over in Snow Creek area, but that's it. I think the drought has dramatically decreased their numbers. Still I am wary. Sometimes if I feel I will be in a lot of brush I wear my 'turtleskins', the kevlar gaiters. Those give a certain peace of mind and I recommend them. I used to be more nonchalant but after someone--I think it was Zip--linked on here to an article about the lasting damage a bite can cause, I worried more.

This is the first time I have ever heard of anyone being bitten by a rattler on Skyline. Doesn't mean that's the case, of course. Any of our long-term people ever heard of a Skyline rattlesnake bite?

lol Sally--I think you and me should team up and go search Skyine for this missing waterfall which apparently we've failed to see. But I think the story was probably trying to say the hiker was on the middle section of the trail where it overlooks Tahquitz Canyon at the 4500 cairn very directly and you can hear/see the high up waterfall? (not the tourist one at the bottom.) They said she had hiked six miles which seems like that's about right for the middle section.