Came across it on a run. My daughter and I were curious. We live in the east bay of the bay area(California). Dry climate.
in Texas, we commonly refer to those as " a good snake".
Gopher snake.
Thank you sir.
I did a Google on Gopher snakes, I found this about where they are found:
“Throughout all 4 deserts of the American Southwest and beyond, up to 8000 feet.”
Man, I had no idea snakes got that big!!!
its actually a great snake to have around. golf courses love them and they help keep the rodent problem down. very docile and a beautiful snake.
It looks like a soon to be dead snake. Did someone beat it with a shovel or something?
It was crossing the road and got run over by a car. It’s dead.
Holy crap! Where was that? I would have had a heart attack.
In last month around Diablo I’ve seen:
California Kingsnake
Gopher Snake
Rattlesnake
Bobcat
Coyote
.
Definitely a good snake. We called them bullsnakes where I grew up and they usually meant two things: 1) there was a rattlesnake somewhere in the area and 2) they ate said rattlesnake. I didn’t believe that until I was in college and actually saw a 4’ long bullsnake/gopher snake wrangle up a rattler under the porch at my parents’ house. Sort of like watching a mongoose and cobra go at it.
“Can anyone identify this snake?”
That’s Jim.
That’s very Gary Larsonesque.
In last month around Diablo I’ve seen:
California Kingsnake
Gopher Snake
Rattlesnake
Bobcat
Coyote
I’ve seen all of those in my backyard in the last month. And the deer, they’re all over my garden. I saw three fawns this morning while watering the plants. They appreciate the fact I’m taking care of their ‘salad bar’.
Snakes are good things and I live in Austin which is close to Texas. I actually have a tiny little gray snake living in my compost pile. I’m always afraid to churn it up because I can’t see him and I don’t want to hurt him.
On a related note, I did see a rattler when I lived in Georgia. I went hiking one weekend and saw one about 4-6’ off the trail. I was about 6’ away from it. It rattled at us and we got further away. Oh, here is a pic of it. It was pretty cool seeing one of these in the wild because they are pretty skittish and you just don’t see them that much.
In last month around Diablo I’ve seen:
California Kingsnake
Gopher Snake
Rattlesnake
Bobcat
Coyote
there’s something about Diablo and tame critters. They seem to hang around the side of the road to watch the bikes go by. I can add Golden Eagle to that list, and my favorite wildlife encounter on Diablo was a year or two ago when i when descending and making a sharp turn below a steep cutting when a huge deer jumped from the top of the cut right in front of me and landed on the other side of the road. Scared the absolute poop outa me.
last weekend in Briones I saw some very fresh lion scat and I was pushing the baby at the time in the Baby Jogger up on the summit trail a few miles from civilization…I had a pretty fast run back down to Bear Creek staging area where I told the Ranger. She didn’t seem too concerned.