CATERPILLAR WHISPERER'S

I feel like the title of this post is weird, which is accurate, because this is one of the weirder things that I have experienced lately.

Michael and I decided to go on a little hike. It started out like any other normal hike.

"You sure you don't want me to carry the water bottles or back pack or camera?" I ask. Michael always replies with a "No," but somehow by the middle of the hike I am usually carrying something. About five minutes into it we see a cute little caterpillar scurrying across the trail. We stop, because I have to watch his tiny furry body inching away until he is out of sight (I know I am not the only one who finds them really cute). Then we continue on for like 30 more seconds, and another one crosses the trail. We laugh, and I say "How crazy! Two caterpillars!" Holding up two fingers, maybe because I am a Preschool teacher and apparently forgot that Michael definitely knows how much two is.  Then we look ahead and notice another crawling across the trail, and this is when we start keeping count. Three so far.

On our way again, and we don't see any for a little while. I sort of forgot about it, and passed it off as coincidence/miracle that we had seen three in the period of like 2 minutes. We decide to stop because the big sitting rocks in the middle of the river were calling our name. We got comfortable and then Michael noticed something moving. Of course, another caterpillar. We both look at each other like "How in the world did this thing get here?" We start looking around, and agree that the dead fallen tree is the only possible way it could have managed its way over. We add it to our list and start to pull out our water bottles and then we notice another one! It wasn't long before we spotted five caterpillars in the middle of that river. 

They started crawling up Michael's leg, all the way up to the top of his shoulders. And I think they would have stayed there, but I didn't let them. I was laughing so hard. It was the most absurd thing I had witnessed in a while. 

We start heading back to the trail, and see two more either swimming or drowning in a little puddle. I went with the worst case scenario and helped them out, just in case the were drowning. I felt pretty good about my decision, and that marked the end our weird caterpillar sightings. But our story isn't over quite yet. 

We decided to keep hiking, and made it to our "stopping point." We picnicked and then started to make our way back. Moving quickly down the trail, I barely notice (seriously just in time) a large snake under a bush right beside the trail. The words immediately blurt out of my mouth "That's a rattlesnake!" and  then I start to process that I almost just stepped on a rattlesnake. The last time I saw a rattlesnake, I was at the zoo. And the last one I saw not in captivity was when I was like 9 years old on a family hike in Zions National Park. Clearly I am freaking out, and not really because I am terrified (which I am slightly) but mostly  because I was starstruck. All I could think was, there is a rattlesnake 5 ft away from me right now. A RATTLESNAKE. He is like king of the caterpillars! Slowly we add more distance between us, and he, the king of the caterpillars, and the rest of the forest (except larger mammals he couldn't eat) taking his sweet time, slithered across the trail.  

A RATTLESNAKE.

And that my friends ends our weird hike. We safely made it back down, and didn't die from a poisonous serpent (and saw 10 really cute caterpillars).