MILTON, MASS. (WHDH) - A woman hiking in the Blue Hills Reservation got a slithering surprise that left her feeling rattled.
Sarah Kleinman was taking her weekly walk when she found a rattlesnake just below her foot Sunday.
“I was moving along and right as I was about to take a step I saw … the biggest snake I’ve ever seen underfoot,” she said. “I was probably a foot away from it and I gasped and jumped back. As I looked back, I saw it was the tail end of the snake and I could see a rattle and I backed away like maybe 10 feet so I could catch my breath.”
The 5-foot-long snake was seemingly unphased and continued crossing the trail as Kleinman took out her camera phone.
“My first thought was that it escaped from the zoo,” she said.
Mass. wildlife officials say it appears to be a timber rattlesnake and despite its size, it is right at home in Blue Hills.
“Makes me a little nauseous to say that word, but there are snake dens around the Blue Hills that they know of,” Kleinman said. “And apparently, they have been in the area for 100 years.”
Kleinman works as a midwife in Providence, Rhode Island, and said she will eventually venture back into the Blue Hill. But, when she does, she will be keeping a better eye on where she steps.
“Since the snakes are, you know, normally supposed to be there, I probably will go back,” she said. “But, I will be keeping an eye out a lot for other snakes.”
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