Facing the Dangers of the Desert

We had another lovely night at Sabino Canyon, running/walking with our friend Mitch. Great conversation, perfect weather, a gorgeous canyon sunset that brightened the entire sky. Could the night get any better?

No. Down was the only way to go.

It was starting to get darker when we passed by some other walkers who said “Look out, we just saw a snake up ahead!” Sure enough, there it was….barely distinguishable from the cracks in the pavement. Mitchell got up closer while I cowered behind Curtis.

“Oh cool, it’s a sidewinder! I’ve never seen one of these before! They’re so rare!” He kept saying. Curtis got closer to check it out and I still panicked.

The sidewinder – they creep along the ground from side to side. They can also move quickly, especially on pavement. After safely getting past it, we started running again – this time, running for our lives!

And as if that wasn’t enough, just a quarter mile later, we saw a mohave snake, again in the middle of the path! It was getting darker, and of course I was becoming more afraid. By some miracle we survived passing by not one, but two rattlesnakes. We warned others who were headed the opposite way, and they told us they had seen 2 more where we were headed. “We’re trapped! Take cover!!”

Spoiler alert: we made it out alive. I don’t know how, but we’re all fine. Thank God.

We are never returning to Sabino Canyon again.