Snakes are scary and gross and they ruin everything

I hate snakes. Not only do I hate them , I am terrified of them. Petrified to be exact.

Today we decided to go hiking. Fun right?....WRONG! Well, mostly wrong anyway. Let me explain.

Okay, it goes like this: We are trying to figure out how to get up on the mountain(Ogden Canyon). We see a guy coming down to his car and decide to ask him. So he tells us there is a beautiful waterfall if you go south about 30-35 minutes. Okay great. So we head up the mountain, going south and find ourselves in a dead-end area. Great. And now I am tired.
So we mosey on down, find another trail, start heading up and find ourselves hiking on the most desert like trail I have ever seen. I'm not kidding. Rather than dirt, pretty flowers and great smelling pine trees, we are surrounded by sand, sagebrush, rocks and hot, hot sun. There is zero shade on this trail. Okay, this is different. Different is good. I can handle this. WRONG. Suddenly Mike and Zack spy a snake. I don't think they knew exactly how terrified, er, I mean petrified I am of snakes. So I immediatly freeze up, scream, cry and demand to go home. They laugh, keep going upwards and onward, leaving me behind bawling. Funny they think. However I do not agree. Anyway, it took me at least 10 minutes to gather enough courage to run past the spot where the snake was seen. BUT, right as I was about to make a run for it, another snake slithered past. I know it was a different snake because the first was was green and this one was brown. EWWWWW. The ONLY reason I was able to get past it(screaming and crying of course) was because up ahead I spied a very large rock that seemed like a safety zone. As I was on the rock I was wondering just how was I ever going to get home? Surely I was not about to step foot back down on that ground again. Well, as my VERY RUDE husband and son laughed and teased me as they took a snack break, I decided I could go on, and I would do so alone. I believe Zack's last words before I took off were "I wouldn't go alone mom, there are snakes out there". Ha. Ha. Ha. So anyway, off I went. I figured I would get to the top, enjoy some alone time and rest by the falls. Nice thought. Not too far ahead, under a rock I was about to step up on was another snake. This particualar snake was backing up into the rock and actually made eye contact with me. Now remember, I am ALONE. Heaven help me, what do I do? Scream of course! I screamed so loud Mike and Zack came running. I ran back down the mountain and safely up onto another rock. This time I cried so much that I hyperventilated (sp?). Now I really want to go home- Via helicopter. Many other people were heading up the trail at this time too. Now picture this. Me standing on a rock-hyperventilating, Mike and Zack checking the foilage for more snakes, and a very large, super long snake slithering along as slow as it could possibly go. Of course everyone wondered what the problem was, and Zack was happy to point it out. I don't know why I allowed Mike to take a picture of it, but I will post it and then delete it from my camera. I never want to see it again. Mike swears that it was a garder snake, but he said it was the longest garder he had ever seen. One of the other hikers said it was a baby rattler, as there are tons of them up that canyon. Either way, it was a disgusting, super scary monster to me and it ruined my day.
We finally made it to the waterfall. It was very pretty, but I couldn't relax and enjoy it the way I had hoped. I got some great pictures though. And by the way, I prayed the whole way down that I wouldn't see anymore snakes. I had faith, and ran, and didn't see a one! whew. Never again.
And in case you didn't catch on-I HATE SNAKES!