What a snake <3
It had rained pretty hard a few hours earlier and was still cloudy. Air temps in the low 70s.
Found a little ways off the trail. It froze and I walked towards it slowly. It started moving when I was five ish feet away.
Last picture is a habitat shot. Second to last picture is in situ, taken right when I spotted it.
It was dark and cloudy so the pictures aren't as great as they could have been.
Female, no eggs (probably laid a couple of weeks ago, if she had any).
Melanistic wandering garter snake.
Drop dead gorgeous!
The last picture shows the spot I saw it. She (?) was in the dead leaves to the left of the trail with only about 5-6 inches of body visible. Bit once at the beginning (and musked a little) but that was it. Air temp was probably close to 75 and sunny. Snake was roughly 3 feet long.
AOR 72F moon had not risen yet. Lots of recent rain.
This is the most beautiful specimen I have ever come across hikes him in spring 2018.