California Surveyors Forums

One of my wife's crews found this near Barstow, CA this morning. Something tells me they didn't dig for the section corner over there.

WOW! Great reminder to watch where you step.

Thanks for the pic!

I've never seen rattlers with such a color. Are those what's called Mojave Green?

That tinting might have to do with maybe some light reflecting off the nearby brush. That's my best guess anyway.

Lovely, and they say our job isn't dangerous. LOL

I give snakes a wide berth. My Chainman and I were looking for a section corner near Edwards AFB and driving thru brush and around boulders, no trails, we finally figured out we were lost. Spotted a pile of boulders and decided to climb up and try and get our bearings. We parked about 50-60 ft from the rocks. I went first and as I neared the top and stepped over a hole between the boulders this crescendo of rattles began and I looked down a saw what is in that pic x3. I turned 180, stepped on one boulder, and in one more step was in the back of the utility body.

Reminds me of one time when I was helping a licensed land surveyor establish control for a big project along the Gaviota Coast west of Santa Barbara. We were walking up in the hills above the ocean looking for an old triangulation station to tie into and I was a couple hundred feet ahead of the land surveyor when I came upon the monument.

It was in about ankle deep grass and had a few old sight poles lying on the ground from old surveys. When i got within about 10 feet of the monument, I accidently stepped on one of the poles and it bounced against the monument...and the half dozen or so rattlesnakes that were sunning themselves there. I started bouncing up and down on the pole, banging it on the heads of the snakes until they all slithered away, hissing, rattling and not very happy.

About then, the land surveyor walked up and asked what was happening...because it looked to him from afar like I was jumping up and down on something. I told him everything was fine, but he should wait a few more minutes before he inspected the monument.

I swear it was funny, watching that pole bounce on them while they were trying to look and sound all mean.

My wife saw that pic and said I should retire.

Brings back memories of working for BLM in OK on the Candian River, stepped on a pile of sticks on the river bank and dislodged a nest of cottonmouths into the river. We quit soaking our feet at lunch time.

Ric I can picture you using the pole like a drumstick on the monument. LOL.

A harmless California Mountain Kingsnake near Grass Valley.

Ryan,
Early in the season to have this much activity isn't it?
I hope this picture isn't why you sent your wife's crew, instead of your crew, lol. One round of snake shot would produce a nice dinner though, safety first.

We don't have to go out and look for them -they come to us! This was one of two that showed upon our window ledge.

Ian Easton wrote:We don't have to go out and look for them -they come to us! This was one of two that showed upon our window ledge.

Guess who is coming to dinner?

Ian,

Your visitor in the window is actually a non-venomous Gopher Snake. Yes, they do a good job of impersonating rattler's, and they get pretty big, but they are harmless and a relentless pursuer of rodents.