50 Alex and the Rattle Snake
It was a hot summer day in 1982 and we were exploring the hogbacks in the foot hills of the Colorado Rockies just below Carter Lake and west of Berthoud, Colorado. The hog backs are sedimentary rock formations that were pushed up when the Granitic Rocky Mountains rose up. They are a rough country, unsuitable for agriculture but useful for grazing cattle.
Colorado state official highway map 1990. Area just east of Carter Lake along blue road is where snake was found.
Dad decided to take me and three of my children on an excursion to find old Arapaho Indian tepee rings. Tepee rings were circles of stones that had been used by the Native Americans to anchor the outside edges of their tepees. When they pitched camp, they would pull up the tepees and the stones would remain behind still in their circles. These tell tale signs of their encampments remain after at least 100 years undisturbed in the undeveloped foothills.
I parked my orange and white Volkswagen van along the road at a spot near where Dad thought we could find tepee rings. He hopped out and started scouting through the low cheat grass covered slope. I gathered up the kids so we could follow but Elizabeth (9) being skittish about snakes wanted to stay in the car. Leila (5) decided to stay also.
Where Alex found a rattle snake. First hogback of the foothills looking east. Photo by Rick Bein 1982.
Three year old Alex and I hurried to catch up with Grandpa. I helped him through a barbed wire fence and we continued our pursuit. When Elizabeth could no longer see us from the van she and Leila decided to come join us and started up the hill. Elizabeth yelled for us to wait, so I sent Alex on ahead to catch up with Grandpa and I went back to help the girls through the barbed wire fence.
Suddenly, Alex screamed and started running back toward me. From forty feet away, I thought that he had run into some prickly pare cactus and I told him it was ok and ordered him to continue on to where Grandpa was on top of the little hillock 50 feet away. Obediently he turned around and continued, only to let out a loud scream again.
“20030920 – Camping – 100-0089 – rattlesnake” by Claire CJS is licensed free under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Then I heard the rattles of the snake. Priorities shifted. Terrified, Alex was running back toward me again. As I ran toward Alex, I yelled at Grandpa about the snake. Alex was crying and was unable to tell me if he had been bitten. I examined him all over. I could find nothing.
Grandpa came up dangling the dead 5 ft. long snake like a rope; he had just finished stoning it. That changed the mood and Alex forgetting the terror he had just experienced suddenly became interested in the snake.
The girls were still waiting at the barbed wire fence and we collected them and headed back to the van. It was enough of an adventure for the day as we seemed to have forgotten about the Tepee rings. We headed back to the house in Berthoud where the women were having a nice gathering.
Excitedly, Alex ran in the house dangling his new acquired treasure. His Grandma and Mom did not share the same enthusiasm as their guests scattered.
Rattles for the snake and Exuberant Alex showing off his new possession. Images by Rick Bein 2020.
Now, Alex recalls “the snake was very close and he was afraid it would try to climb his leg.” The snake likely stayed its strike because Alex wasn’t deemed a threat. I gave the rattles to Alex as a keepsake.