Sleeping Giant: Snakes On A Trail

There, sunning himself on a rock, was a copperhead snake!

May I start by saying I’m bushed? This was a very busy day. My Cousin Melissa is in from SoCal. Today was family entertainment day. I took the day off so she could see some Connecticut.

Actually this was going to be a day in New York City, but with the threat of rain we all agreed a “staycation” worked better.

From reading my blog entries Melissa knew about Sleeping Giant. We headed there early this afternoon. It was fairly deserted as we parked and headed up the Tower Trail.

Helaine and I haven’t walked The Giant in a while. I was worried whether I’d be too out-of-shape to make it to the top.

We stopped once at the midway point then continued to the top. I was sweaty, but none the worse for wear! Phew.

At one point we approached three young women also headed to the top. They were standing at the side of the trail pointing at a rock. I walked up to see what was holding their attention.

There, sunning himself on a rock, was a copperhead snake! Click the photo for a better look.

I grew up in Apartment 5E. We didn’t have snakes. I didn’t know I was supposed to be scared and moved closer to snap a picture. The snake held his ground until we walked away.

We reached the top under the kind of deep blue sky my California Cousin is used to. Ten minutes later it would be gone!

We spent a little time on the tower. Visibility was excellent and we easily saw the Connecticut Shoreline, Long Island Sound and Long Island.

The trip down wasn’t quite as eventful as the trip up. No snakes, though we did run into a few dogs including Doc.

Doc is a four month old Corgi with a soft coat and huge paws. He’s still growing. That’s a shame. At his current size and disposition Doc is as sweet and cute a dog as you’ll ever see!

I miss Sleeping Giant.

13 thoughts on “Sleeping Giant: Snakes On A Trail”

  1. Love the Giant and your wonderful pictures. Glad you didn’t get too close to the copperhead. Haven’t seen one around in a long time.

  2. I’m Docs “mom”. Thanks for posting his picture. I realize he’s going to be a bit bigger than you are looking for, but Cardigan Corgis are great dogs!
    The tower picture is absolutely GORGEOUS! Copperheads are venomous but not aggressive.

  3. Great pics Geoff. Love Sleeping Giant. It offers a wide variety of trails for all skill levels. Great way to spend the day with the family.

  4. West Hartford Reservoir is the place to see copperheads as well as northern water snakes and deer. The second to last shot: real nice HDR. Congratulations on that.

  5. There was an amusing moment last night. I went to Fox 61 last night to catch “your” weather report. I saw Rachel was there, but the Chyron said “Geoff Fox.” My husband commented that you had changed quite a bit in the last 24 hours!

  6. the only way I would have gotten that close to a copperhead, is with a zoom lens. We used to find them in the stone walls all the time, when my family home was being built–in the early ’50’s. I had forgotten what they looked like. All I knew was that they were venonmous. In my younger days of Christian Camp, we used to climb Canaan Mt—No Canaan, CT—there we had to watch out for rattlers—so I’m really not fond of encountering any of them!
    Great pictures, by the way. Must be your new Camera(?). And the fact that you are still young and nimble. Wondered where you were that night! Barb

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