Definitely looks like a Gopher snake, but they are not found in NY. The closest that any member of Pituophis comes to NY is the Northern Pine Snake which is found in the southern NJ Pine Barrens. There are numerous examples of isolated populations of animals found far from there main distribution, perhaps this is the case here.

Hey TimT, who is that crazy guy in the picture with the black mamba
:-) ?? And what about the guy in the background who looks like watching a black mamba up close is something he does every day?

Hope you're well.

Brad

I'll post pics later of different snakes, but I have a pretty cool story with a shameless name-drop.

Maybe 25 years ago, I was leading one of my first 5.11s, Tick Fever in Little Cottonwood Canyon. About 20 or 30' up, on moderate crack, my partner yelled something and the rope started wiggling. I looked down and he was throwing rocks at a large rattlesnake about 10' away that seemed to be approaching.

I found the best rest stance I could and waited while he held the rope with one hand and scooped and threw rocks with the other. The snake turned and slithered about 15 feet and disappeared under a bush.

A little rattled, I fought up the pitch (taking a big whipper at the unexpected high crux). On the descent we found the perished dude in coiled repose.

My snake slaying belayer that day? A beginner named Boone Speed.

Awesome replies. Keep them coming.

I've had tons of encounters with snakes while biking...half the time they're already dead but when you're moving quick and/or not paying attention they still startle the crap out of you as you generally don't know they're dead until you're past them.

Only once did I have an encounter with a snake on a climbing trip. I was at Pinnacles in California, and there's a tunnel cut through the rock that we had to walk through. It's reasonably long and there was no lights inside, so by the time you're in the middle it's nearly pitch black. We didn't have lights, so we used our cellphones to slowly move through the tunnel. When I heard a noise, I moved the phone down near my feet and realized that I was standing about 2 feet from a baby rattler. He didn't strike but it sure startled the hell out of me and could have been bad if he did strike.

Funny story on the anti-venom, after my Diamondback bite as soon as I got into the emergency room they tested me for an allergic reaction to the anti-venom; pricked my arm with a small does and waited for something to happen, which it didn't so I was good to go.

About two weeks later my bite area started to swell up again and I got very creepy looking veins, my first reaction was "oh no, the anti-venom failed"! At the emergency room the doctor told me that it was a delayed reaction to the anti-venom, I subsequently broke out in full-body hives for about three days - man it was irritating and the only place I could find relief was in a warm bath.

many many snake stories. i've probably seen thirty rattlers and twice that number of copperheads over the years. the south is full of pit vipers and some of them are snakes. any way, i was bouldering in cashiers a few years ago, in a thicket of wild blue berries. boulder a few moves, eat a few berries. good life when you can get it. sitting on the pad i look up into a blue berry bush and realize there is some kind of mass hanging in the bush. i lean forward and peer upward,puzzled, my mind trying to make sense of this object. talk about an ah-ha moment, it's the belly scales of a 3 foot timber rattler. i guess he was laying in wait for a bird to come in after the berries. fortunately for me his head was opposite mine and after the initial shock of seeing that aspect of a rattlesnake, i declared a truce and moved on. never have felt quite the same about bungling through the cashiers jungle though.

A few more I found. These were all on a trip to Smith rock apparently during snake breeding season. We saw 23 in 1 day.

Climbing partner with one of many snakes. Submitted By: kovacs69 on Aug 10, 2012

Another snake. Submitted By: kovacs69 on Aug 10, 2012

Little one. Submitted By: kovacs69 on Aug 10, 2012

Gettin' busy on the road. Submitted By: kovacs69 on Aug 10, 2012

One more. Submitted By: kovacs69 on Aug 10, 2012

Speaking of Rattlers at Lovers Leap, I ran into one in a bush about half way up East Crack this spring. It rattled like crazy and at first I though it might be a bees nest, but after seeing what and where it was coming from I quickly climbed past giving it as much room as possible. The party behind us saw in later moving up the crack - they can indeed climb.

You can almost guarantee curious encounters with water snakes below Black Rose at Paradise Forks in northern Arizona.

On my first visit to Lover's Leap I came across two different rattlesnakes on the approach trail to Corrugation Corner.

Spending a lot of my youth living in the Pearl River Swamp in Mississippi snakes were just a part of my life mostly moccasins,and coral.

With over 40 years of climbing and tramping around the mountains and deserts all over the "tar nation" I have had numerous snake encounters mostly rattlers and bulls.

There is one encounter that stands out in my memory.
I was down in south Florida on a surfing and wind surfing trip and I was working for my father's marble fabricating company for some extra cash.

I was sent out to the small village of Okeechobee in the south central part of the state to do a marble paneling installation.

My helper and I were driving back to Ft.Pierce in one of the company pickups on an old two lane state highway with these narrow two lane concrete bridges that crossed the many canals and small streams.

As we approached one of those narrow bridges we noticed something that appeared like a log across the width of the bridge. My helper was driving and slowed to a stop. He started shouting "IT"S A SNAKE!".

Stretched out across the entire width of the bridge was a diamond back rattler.
Now, I wont start trying to explain just how big this bugga was, but, it was bigger than life it's self.

My helper was driving and said, "Let's run over him and sell the meat and hide."

I said, "Naw, I just kill him with that 8' 2x4 in the back of the truck."

So I got out and got this 8' stud and carefully approached the snake.

The bridge had concrete sides that were easily 4' high.

As I got closer with the 2x4 the snake started to stir and started to climb over the concrete side. He didn't coil and was just trying to escape.

His head was well over the top of the 4' railing and his tail was still in the middle of the road.

I noticed the size of his head and if I place my two hands side by side that is how big I remember his head was.

I came to the realization that the snake was much bigger than my weapon.
I just said, "F**K THIS!" and put the board back in the the bed of the truck and got back in my self.

My helper said, "That was very impressive."

We sat there and watched as the rattler negotiated the 4' concrete guard rail.

I must admit that I cringed as I watched this monster disappear.

All in all I'm told that that the snake we encountered was a big one but not uncommon in the swamps of central Florida.

Great stories and photos. 75 replies and nearly 6000 views. Keep it up!

If I had a dollar for every time I saw a snake on a climbing trip...

Aguatic Two-Stripe Garter Snake. Seen in the shallows at the base of the Black Wall in Sespe Gorge. Submitted By: Matthew Fienup on Aug 14, 2012

Northern Pacific Rattle Snake. Seen near the old lookout tower in the Needles. Submitted By: Matthew Fienup on Aug 14, 2012

California King Snake. San Ysidro Canyon, in Santa Barbara. Submitted By: Matthew Fienup on Aug 14, 2012

Striped Racer. Malibu Creek State Park. Submitted By: Matthew Fienup on Aug 14, 2012

One very unfortunate Coachwhip Snake. Found on the entrance road to Pinnacles National Monument. Submitted By: Matthew Fienup on Aug 14, 2012

One very unfortunate Gopher Snake. Pinnacles National Monument. Submitted By: Matthew Fienup on Aug 14, 2012