■ WYOMING, BIG HORN MOUNTAINS: The day before embarking on my solo hiking adventure up the tongue river canyon, I stopped at Wyoming's Fish and Game department's offices in Sheridan. I had only one question in mind; the rattle snake situation in the Big Horn mountain range.

With zero cell service in the area and hours by foot to the nearest town if anything was to go down, I wanted to figure out how likely a meeting with America's most feared snake really was. The woman I spoke to at the office flat out said she does not venture into the tongue river canyon at all this time a year due to said snake. She waits for colder weather when the snakes have set up shop in their winter caves.

She also said some friends of hers had hiked the trail a week prior and seen a rattle snake literally 3 minutes into their adventure. That was kind of the answer I expected though.

And seeing as cancelling my hike was not an option I'd just have to thread very carefully.

So off I went, somewhat nervous, but in high spirits, blissfully unaware that this was about to become the greatest hike I've ever undertaken... and that by the end of the day I would've named and survived a new mountain called Fireball Peak 🔥

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