With a couple of small water bottles, cameras and a whistle, we set out on our five mile hike to Wapama Falls.  About 10 minutes into our adventure, we joked about how ill-prepared we were. No extra water, no jackets, no cell phone service, no first aid kit.  We had also failed to tell anyone where we were going.

The first half of the hike was fine, although it took me a little longer than we had planned.  It was hot, and we quickly finished our water, but the scenery was amazing and it was starting to cool off as the sun started to set. The falls were nowhere to be seen -- something about it being late summer, I guess -- but we were having a good time.

We remember that the park closes and gates are locked at 7pm, so we turned around and started down the hill. We hadn't seen anyone on the trail in about 30 minutes, so it seemed like a good time to get back to our car. About 10 minutes into the descent, we came to a place that neither of us recognized. We turned around, walked back to familiar ground, but then couldn't find any other route. This is the point when a map, a compass, a GPS or a good memory would have come in handy. We kept walking and found that we were on the right path after all. Big relief...we weren't going to be those hikers that get lost in the wilderness and have friends and family confirm to the authorities that 1) no, we are not experienced hikers and 2) yes, we probably did panic.

All seemed well until I turned a slight corner and just as I put my foot down, noticed a large snake right in front of me.  Video

I screamed (that's what you're supposed to do right?) and jumped back. The snake slithered to the side of the path, but then just sat there, looking at us. We could see his tongue and then his tail started rattling. I thought about throwing an empty water bottle or blowing my whistle, but decided that wouldn't do any good. We could wait him out, or try to run, but those also didn't seem like good ideas. So we waited for a few minutes until Lisa decided we could climb over a large rock on the other side of the path -- and that's how we eventually got around the snake.

We showed our photo to the park ranger and he confirmed that it was indeed a rattlesnake. "You're lucky," he said. "Most people don't get to see a rattlesnake."