Yesterday, we hiked Overlook Mountain to look for Timber Rattlers. The weather was threatening, but sunny, hot and humid on the way up. The rain held out until we got to the trail junction between Echo Lake and the Fire Tower. It poured up to the Fire Tower and all the way back down to the parking lot, but cooled us off and was quite refreshing.
Here are a few pictures I took throughout our hike:
First and only snake we saw… This was about ¼ of a mile from the parking lot in the morning when the sun was still out. This little Garter Snake was coiled up on the leaves on the right hand side ditch next to the trail at the base of a small rock formation.
A neat tree growing from the cracks in the rocks:
The Overlook Mountain House ruins, there were a lot of people around the trail, especially for a day that was going to be pretty rainy.
More shots of the ruins:
Water supply:
Ledges off to the left just before reaching the summit:
A shot from the Fire Tower in the rain… Windy, wet and cold up there!
A shot towards the ruins and communication tower:
We didn’t see any rattlers, even though we looked for some time. There were 3 different people who reported seeing them to us. A woman who was coming down the trail just below the ruins, a couple who saw one just above the ruins and a man who saw one just below the fire tower. We weren’t lucky enough to find any, but we will definitely be back on a sunny day. Still a very enjoyable day out on the mountain!
