Gila Monsters Galore!

Hiked Two Bar Ridge trail in the Superstitions yesterday. Just over 15 miles round trip and over 4000' total elevation gain. The trail had lots of ups and downs. I was concerned that the trail might be difficult to follow, as it is quite remote, but surprisingly it was mostly well marked and only had a few spots of confusion. I ran into 3 Gila Monsters along the trail, which is about as many as I've seen in all my hikes combined. I really like these little guys. They are really slow and chill looking on the trail. When they 'run' away its like this slow motion movement of each leg as they move. I about stepped on another snake that was laying across the trail. I'm not sure what kind he was, but I am pretty sure from the head he was not poisonous. The snake was completely unconcerned with me. He didn't move at any time. The hike was a bit more difficult than I expected, although running out of water about 4 miles out didn't help. The elevation gains and losses made it good preparation for the Grand Canyon hike coming up. Pictures in the gallery - http://picasaweb.google.com/wordofrob.