Weekday Ride Report: Coal Canyon and the Rattlesnake

Yesterday I wasn’t feeling well so I left work early. After taking a brief nap when I got home, I decided to go for a ride in hopes that I’ll sweat out whatever was making me feel under the weather.

Closest trail to my house was Coal Canyon. As I mentioned on previous articles, Coal Canyon is a ride in, ride out type of ride. It’s a long grind up with a rewarding descent on a fire road. The ride up is usually uneventful. You either listen to music or enjoy the surroundings to get your mind off the constant climb.

Reaching the 3 mile marker, I see a rattlesnake on the middle of the road. This one had a real pretty color approximately 4ft long. Off course I had to stop and take a short video. The last time I ran into a rattler on the trail was when I rode at San Clemente Single Tracks (SCST), May of this year. Then I was only able to take a picture of the snake coil up as I ran out of space in my memory card for a video clip. With the Flip Mino in hand, I recorded the rattler move to the side of the road. Always at a safe distance, I gave it some assistance by throwing little pebbles at it.

After the entertainment, I continued to climb for another half mile then I decided to turn back. Bombing to the bottom was fun as usual however there were plenty of sandy patches that slowed me down. By now, the sun was setting thus getting darker in some areas of the trail. As I turned one of the corners, there was a buck that I startled. I was able to get the Flip Mino out to record however, the buck was too far and was just a speck on the clip. Good times, even when solo!