Friday, May 13, 2005

On the Little Spokane River

This afternoon I took my dogs for a hike near the Little Spokane River, just beyond Rutter Parkway. We started at the Indian paintings, and walked all the way to the entrance of Spokane House (my apologies to the state park people, I didn't see the 'no pets' sign until I was leaving). We encountered some interesting animals along the way.

On our way to the Spokane House site, we encountered a snake by the water. My dogs Kelbie and Bo didn't even notice and walked right over the top of it; however, I stopped and got a very nice photograph.

About a quarter of a mile from Spokane House, a large osprey flew overhead and circled above us at least a dozen times. I wonder if that was natural behavior for an osprey, especially since we were near its nest.

On the way back to the car, we encountered a second snake on the main trail, and once again, the dogs were oblivious. The snake lay very still at the edge of the trail, but when I attempted to pass, it recoiled somewhat and rattled its tail! Before today, I had never stood so close to a rattlesnake in the wild; in fact, I'm not sure if I ever saw a rattlesnake in the wild. I carefully passed by on the opposite side of the trail and managed to get a fairly good picture (using the zoom feature on my camera, of course).

Later in the evening, as I drove home from Wellpinit, I saw a third snake on the highway! I've not seen a snake in years, but today I saw three. Is this coincidence or some kind of message?

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