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Secret Canyon is really awesome, but I don't think it supposed to be like I found it. Here are the photos:
http://photos.yahoo.com/bodew
Click on Secret Canyon. This worked last time and should again this time.
I think this time of year the forest floor should probably be a green carpet of ferns; instead it was a brown carpet of dry, dead ferns. And I imagine I should probably have had to get my boots wet numerous times while crossing the creek beds; they were bone dry! I saw one stagnant pool deep in a ravine. Thought I'd taken a photo of it, but guess it didn't take.
OK, about the little buddy I met: I was just about to put my foot down on the trail when I realized that something had just left the spot where my foot was going to land. Had I been four or five seconds faster or he four or five seconds slower......OK, let's not go there :!: :!: :!: Anyway, when I realized what my little buddy was(check out photos 157 & 158. Little Buddy shows up really well when you click for the large version!)......well, he'd crawled off to the left of the trail, coiled and started shaking his bootie and I completed the Jump part of my new Hop-Skip-Jump world record :!: Camera has a nice zoom lens and the photos were taken from a dozen or more feet away. Had he moved any part of his body other than the bootie he was shaking I'd probably hold the 100 meter dash record now too :!:
Up to that point, well into the hike, I had been admiring the scenery to the point that I let a tree root reach out and trip me. Little Buddy made me realize that eyes riveted to the trail was the way to go from that point on! Hope he had a nice day :roll:

Looks like you had a pleasant encounter with a Black-tailed Rattlesnake.
http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showS ... geID=19234
They can have some truly beautiful colors depending on their environment. We had one years ago that was the most docile snake you have ever seen. He was very deceptive though, he was so docile and such a good looking snake that it was very tempting to take him out to hold him. We never did that though.

Oh yeah, welcome to Arizona, we keep those things around, to scare off the tourists, hope you'll be staying with us a while and watch where you step.

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Seriously though, it is getting warmer and the snakes are stirring. If you're going to hike on their turf, get a Sawyer snake bite kit, carry it with you and know how to use it.
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Here's a good link as well.
http://www.sloanmonster.com

GTG

Wow, it sure is dry in there this year. I've done this hike in April a few times, and every one of those times it was very wet. There were even patches of snow further back in the canyon. You can see some in my photos on the trail page. Those were taken in April 2000!

I'm glad you didn't step on your little buddy, I don't think he would've enjoyed that very much! Don't think you would've enjoyed it, either!! 8O

Thanks GTG, Wondered what model rattler my little buddy is 8O and yeah, as soon as I read the article about snake encounters I bought a Sawyer Extractor and practiced with it; hope practice is all the use it ever gets! No need to have a fear of snakes, but a deep, abiding respect is a must. And I was invading his space, not vice versa.

Yeah Mike, I'm afraid this record dry spell's gonna have a serious impact on the area that will last for years. Flora and fauna are both suffering immeasurably and will take a long time to recover. Guess that's Mother Nature at her cruelest.

Man, that looks really dry in there. It still is pretty though. I was there last April and May and there was plenty of water in the creek. And it was a whole lot greener too. You'll have to go back after our monsoon starts, if it even does this year, and compare notes. I'd like to get back in there in the fall as well.

-Nealz