I may have spent my earliest years growing up in the Bay Area of California but I have spent more time than most camping around the lakes of the Sierra foothills and tromping through the sagebrush in Nevada and Utah.

And in all that time, I had yet to come across a rattlesnake in the wild.

During my latest stay out in the western desert of Northern Utah, after exploring on foot the area around our campground, and loading back our gear into our vehicle, I mention the above mentioned fact of never seeing a rattlesnake.

No more than minutes from saying it, a loud noise sounded outside of my driver’s side window. At first, I thought it sounded like pressurized air- like a tire leak. I stopped the truck and the sound also stopped.

“Was that a rattlesnake?” My honey asked.

“What??!”

We got out of the truck and as we back-tracked on foot down the road, the noise restarted.

Scanning around the roadside, the brush, and trying to follow this odd sound, we finally spotted it.

I have now seen a rattle snake in the wild.