After my bison encounter in Painted Canyon, I decided I must hike there. Yesterday, I did a 12 mile loop that took me through badlands, petrified forest, and huge grassy plains.
It’s in a grassy plain I had another animal first, the prairie rattlesnake. It must’ve been 4 feet in front of me when I heard a high-pitched, loud and clear warning. Rattlesnakes really want you to know they are around and to go away. As you can tell from the photo, a snake is really hard to see when in the grass. After that, I stomped a little more loudly and made clicking sounds every now and then.
Not everyone makes it out of the Prairie.

But if you do make it out, the views and vistas are incredible.