{"id":8524,"date":"2026-04-10T07:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/?p=8524"},"modified":"2026-04-09T19:58:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T02:58:53","slug":"pct-day-12-first-rattlesnake-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/pct-day-12-first-rattlesnake-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"PCT DAY 12 – First rattlesnake encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mile 118.5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I heard the rattle first. Looked down at the trail and didn\u2019t see anything. Th on en I heard a hiss to my right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saw the snake. Saw the rattle. Saw it hissing at me with its beady little eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was too close to back up, so I skirted the trail and got past the snake. After putting enough safe distance beyond the snake, I looked back and took some pictures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t believe me? My iNaturist app confirmed it was a rattlesnake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

More details to follow when I have found my missing witts. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The rest of the day was uneventful climb along many meadows and ridge lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After I found a campsite, I hot my first view of my next biggest obstacle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mount San Jacinto<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At 10,813 feet high, it\u2019s not even close to the highest mountains in California or that I\u2019ve climbed. But it is the highest point in this part of the PCT. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019ll take several days to even reach it and the descent is supposed to be treacherous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh and a storm is expected to hit around the same time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I may have to take a Zero Day in IDYLLWILD to wait out the storm. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mile 118.5 I heard the rattle first. Looked down at the trail and didn\u2019t see anything. Th on en I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"PCT DAY 12 - First rattlesnake encounter","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[35,30],"class_list":["post-8524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-where-ive-been","tag-35","tag-pct-2026"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_4697.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pg6j8i-2du","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8525,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524\/revisions\/8525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}