Java enjoyed this ride, though he’s a little stressed in the video because I rode ahead to film him. He calmed down once he caught up to me.
Smoke at the top
Java and I went up to Sierra Prieta Saturday. I’m afraid that’s San Diego’s suburbs hanging in the air, where it’s normally really clear.
Java only slows for photos when he’s getting tired. Here he is, most of the way down from Sierra Prieta. We went for almost 3 hours.
Why Java got snake-trained
I felt bad snake-training Java last spring, but he loves to run on the trails with me. We have snakes.
He was hiking with the guys instead of running with my bike yesterday morning. If he’d been with me, he would have been the first to fly past this guy (or girl). It would have been a real test of Java’s snake-training.
This snake was laying stretched out, kinda diagonal to the trail, in the shade of a juniper, about 10:30 in the morning. After I went past, quite close to it and pretty fast because it was along a gradual downhill, the snake coiled up, ready to go. Fortunately, my friend J was not too close behind, and she stopped plenty early. 
Close-up of the Arizona black rattlesnake.