Good news! I’ve figured out how to start the backpacking season even earlier. This is exciting as there is not a very big window in western Montana for backpacking. You have to wait for the snow to melt to get in the high country and then you have to wait for the creeks to lower so that they are crossable. Then there is bug season and sometimes smoke and fire season in the later summer. If you don’t jump on every opportunity and extend the season you can see that summer will pass by and there will be no backpacking to be had.

If you recall, Heidi and I took advantage of some bonus summer-like weather last October to hike up Boulder Creek for a couple of days and our water bottles barely froze up over night. This year we went out in May on the Salmon river one weekend and the Selway River the next weekend or as we like to call it “our church”; Frank Church to be exact. The Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Wilderness Area. A playground in our backyard.

Our Selway trip plan was to hike into Scott’s Camp nine miles in; base camp there; a side hike the next day and back out on the third day. We came out on day two.

We parked the car at the Paradise Campground on White Cap Creek in Idaho, loaded up our packs and walked to the trailhead which is also the put in for rafting the Selway River. We passed a bear hunter coming out on horseback just before the trailhead. We stopped to talk and he warned us to watch for rattlesnakes, they are bad this year. I’ve done the entire 56 miles of the Selway River Trail three times and have seen a few rattlesnakes, but just like all of the other wild animals I’ve come across, they don’t want to have anything to do with me either and usually slither off the trail or give a warning rattle that they are there. The one big difference with this short in and out backpack and my through hiking the Selway was that I brought my yellow lab Molly who has not had any experience with rattlesnakes.

We continued on into the large cedar lined trail. Huge cedar trees shaded us on the first few miles of the trail. The trail was in good shape with little to no downfall to climb over. About three miles in we crossed a large creek. There is a log crossing just above the trail, not an ideal log when you are carrying 25 plus pounds on your back, but a log and still quicker than taking boots and socks off and wading through the creek. I extend my trekking poles as long as they will go and use those to balance myself while doing a high wire act on this uneven wet log. Heidi and Molly are in front of me. I hear voices on the other side. Heidi tells the voices to wait as she reaches the other side of the creek as there is a rattlesnake at the end of the crossing log. Everyone hangs out for a moment as the rattlesnake continues on its way. We bush whack our way back to the trail to find a man and his 10 year old son and a dog all wearing backpacks who are heading back towards the trailhead. They tell us that they were going to stay out longer but they’d seen seven rattlesnakes and just couldn’t take it anymore. They were going to find another trail.

At this point I’m thinking ‘what is the universe trying to tell me?’ I blew it off. It was a long drive in here, we had planned this, the weather was perfect…….

We kept hiking.

Here’s the weird thing about rattlesnakes, they give that rattle to warn you, but it’s not something that registers quickly in your head like a car horn. It takes several moments to first think ‘what is that’ and then panic that you are being warned by a rattlesnake to back off. The river is roaring on one side of the trail and I’ve been trying to make as many vibrations as I can to give my own warning that we are coming through.

At about mile 6 I hear a rattle, contemplate what that sound is, panic as I’m now right by the rattlesnake and run on a narrow, rocky trail with my 25 pound plus backpack and Molly close on my heels not exactly sure what is happening but sensing that we need to hurry as scenes from the movie “True Grit” run through my head.

Heidi is behind watching this event play out. By now the rattlesnake is more not happy and looks right into Heidi’s eyes and rattles a “dare you to pass me bitch” rattle. She doesn’t. She talks nice to the snake, says she’s just passing through, the snake slithers into the rocks…..Heidi prepares to pass…….but it’s a trick….the snake comes out the other side of the rock and rattles again. Heidi makes her move and trots by apologizing profusely for being in the snake’s habitat. We all continue to walk and only a minute later Heidi shouts out “GO GO GO”. Me and Molly do our backpack run down the trail not sure what’s going on behind us.

We’d walked right over another snake crossing the trail.

This was becoming very nerve wracking.

The weather had changed, we could see storm clouds headed our direction. The temperature dropped as the rain started. We stopped to put on our rain gear and the weather seemed to make the rattlesnakes take shelter and we did not see another one the rest of the day. We got to our camp and I was soaked. My last year boots had lost there water proofness and I felt like I’d walked through a creek sloshing in my wet socks with every step. These boots were never going to dry unless the sun came out.

We set up camp in the trees and collected some wet firewood. The camp was very shaded and cool and we didn’t expect to see any snakes in the area, which we didn’t.

After dinner and some journaling we got in our tents for some well earned sleep. It took a while for me to fall asleep and as soon as my body slid into a peaceful slumber my brain flashed a picture of a giant rattlesnake and I startled into full awakeness. Full blown awake. Like I’d had coffee for dinner awake. I tried to read. Tried some deep breathing exercises.

This was when I started some loving kindness meditation for the rattlesnakes. They were just being snakes. I’m sure the less than one pound legless, armless reptile was way more scared of me.

May you be happy rattlesnake, may you be safe rattlesnake, may you live with ease rattlesnake

I had to just lay there and wait for sleep to return, which it did. But while I was laying there I was thinking about getting out, just pack up and hike out the next day. But we’d planned this. We took a day off of work. It’s a long drive in. We LOVE sleeping in our tents and eating our backpacking meals. The weather was perfect. I’d carried in all this damn dog food.

The next morning we get up and start to get things prepared for hot drinks and some breakfast. Made a fire with the damp wood. Set my soaked hiking boots by the fire. Heidi commented that she’s not sure she has enough fuel for the whole trip. I commented that I’m not sure I have enough fuel for the whole trip. If you know me and Heidi you would know that this would be totally impossible for both of us to be low on fuel. We pride ourselves on having everything and just the right amount of everything and nothing extraneous. We are two of the most prepared people you will ever meet. Some or maybe more than some, might call us anal. If one of us was short on fuel it would be ok, because the other of us would be able to make up the difference.

The universe did not want us to stay out another night.

The weather was going to be cooler and overcast for the day and hot and sunny the next day. We deduced that cool and overcast would be less rattlesnakes and hot and sunny would be more rattlesnakes.

Decision made.

I gave Molly a second breakfast and started packing up my tent. We walked the nine miles out and saw zero rattlesnakes. Could have been the cool, overcast weather, but I believe it was the loving kindness meditation. May you be happy. May you be safe. May you live with ease.

What is our book selection for this post? On our ride into the Salmon River where we backpacked before this rattlesnake trip, Heidi told me she was reading a great book called “Outlive”. I smacked her on the arm and said “YOU ARE NOT”; as I was reading the same book. The book I’m recommending is “Outlive” by Dr. Peter Attia. This book is about rethinking the medical world as we know it and using preventive tools early in life to live not just a long life but a life worth living. Heidi’s take away quote from the book which is actually a quote from Paul Coelho;

“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”

I heard a podcast with the author who said he started the book with the belief that nutrition would be the most important thing to a long healthy life, but after writing the book he changed his mind and now believes that movement is the key. Maybe not running from rattlesnakes on a narrow rocky trail with a backpack on kind of movement but just moving. Get out there and move everyone.

More great book recommendations and adventures can be found on my blog “Wild About Books“.