Gray Lodge and Snakes

I've had a number of first time visitors to our area in the last couple of years. In order to show them what this area is all about, one of our destinations is Gray Lodge Nature Preserve. I wrote about it before. I've visited in all seasons and I always discover something new and interesting.
Although Mosker had grown up here, this spring had been her first visit. It was also the first time that I had encountered snakes there. I don't know enough about them not to get creep-ed when they pass on the path in front of me. That's not good! So after all this time here I decided to learn a bit more, it's silly, after all, to get spooked by a few ounces of muscle.
When I took my cousins there, from a snake-less land, I fully hoped to show them local fauna. Off in the distance we saw a raccoon. We saw a deer. I had nearly given up when one of them saw the gopher snake across the path. No rattle! No triangle head! Good! We watched it. We photographed it. We filmed it. We watched it travel across the path and disappear into brush.
Mission accomplished!