Dude – this sucks and I'm sorry you got hit out there.
In Virginia, snakes are very common, but snake bites aren't. In the United States about 7,000 poisonous snake bites are reported each year, of those 7,000 bites only six were fatal. In 2018 there have been numerous snake bites reported in Virginia, and only one in Maryland.
In the Old Dominion, there are thirty types of snakes. Of the 30 only 3 are poisonous: Timber Rattlesnake, Northern Cottonmouth and the Eastern Copperhead.
Timber Rattlers mostly live in western Virginia, and cover a good part of the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson National Forest, and Shenandoah National Park.
Cottonmouths, or Water Moccasins, live mostly in a small section of southeastern Virginia covering lowland areas like marshes and swamps.
The Eastern Copperhead is the most common poisonous snake in Virginia. They throughout the state and are fairly common. Unlike the other two, copperheads strike fast and don't like to be bothered.
Fun internet research aside, this all brings me to my story. A Sunday funday in Shenandoah National Park with my buddies catching our favorite Virginia state fish, abruptly ruined by a damn poisonous snake and my affinity for wet wading in Chacos.
A cool and wet start to summer, and after weeks of heavy rain throughout Virginia, the rivers of Shenandoah National Park were full and running clear. My buddies and I loaded up from DC and headed to the Mountains for a day of hiking, river lunches, and tricking mountain brook trout. Overcast and a high in the mid 80's, prefect day wet wading and dry fly action in SNP.
We arrived shortly after 9am, parked and headed up the mountain. We hiked the trail for a few miles, and eventually decided to cut to the river. The plan was to fish and hike down river and meet eventually for lunch. Being the fisherman I am, I generally like to fish upstream and move very quickly when I fish small water for brookies. Minimal casts into pools, and if I miss a fish, I usually move on. I quickly bunny hopped by friends and fished up river a few hundred feet. The air and water temp was perfect, and there was lots of bug activity all over the river. I started with a size 16 high vis Parachute Adams, switched to Royal Wolf. By 10am I had easily caught a dozen brookies. Flies didn't seem to matter because the fish were hungry, so I switched to a Copper John nymph and caught a quick 5-6 more fish. It was almost 11am, so I decided I would try to see if I could get to two dozen fish and call it a day, hike out and find my friends and have some lunch. Around 11:30am I caught my last little brookie and it had started to drizzle, so I decided it was time to go find my friends. I pulled off the river and hiked to find the trail. As I hiked away from the river, there was a small green clearing where I stopped for a second. A few weeks prior I was in Vermont for a wedding, and while I was there or during the trip up I encountered a nasty case of Poison Ivy. I had the rash all over my body, and was really hoping to avoid that poison once again. I was surveying the green spot and thought I saw some Ivy, so I side stepped to my left, and as I lifted my foot into the air I felt a quick tingle. My foot hit the ground and I felt the tingle again. Confused and bewildered I looked to my right and saw a coiled Copperhead snake looking pissed. Freaked out I grabbed my fly rod from the ground, which I had thrown in the air while I was getting accosted, and sprinted up to the trail. I then ran as fast as I could down the trail yelling for my friends. I quickly found them a quarter mile or so down river. We gathered our things and headed to the car. Shortly after the bite I could feel the venom go up my leg, and my inner leg and thigh got super tight, and it was difficult to walk. As we hiked out the 2-3 miles my foot, shin and leg started to go numb and got significantly tingly. My buddies rushed me to the nearest hospital. By the time I arrived to the ER I could barley walk and my leg was almost numb.
At the hospital they did the usual, took my blood, gave me a few shots, monitored my bites and bodily swelling, and administered my heart rate and blood pressure. Based on my foot and leg swelling the doctors determined that I didn't need to take the anti venom, which was a relief. I spent almost 8 hours in the ER before they discharged me. The trek back to DC was brutal, but they pumped me full of a pain med cocktail something out of a Hunter S. Thompson novel.
The last few days have been a blur. I've been in and out of doctors offices, out of work for a few days, and the pain is the most intense thing I've ever experienced. I still can't really move my foot, or put any weight on it. My foot has almost doubled in size with swelling, and I have bruises up and down my left leg. Almost every time I stand up blood rushes to my foot and my whole leg tingles or goes numb. It's the most painful 30 seconds I've ever experienced, and tremendously uncomfortable. The doctors told me I'll be off my foot for at least a week, and the swelling could last a month. Poison control and I have become best buds, and they know nothing about snake bites in the District. So this has been fun.
I've spent my entire life outside. I grew up in Vermont on Lake Champlain, went to college in Montana, lived a year in Wisconsin, and have been in DC for the last 4 years. While fishing, hiking and spending my life outside I've run into grizzly and black bears, encountered Champ on Lake Champlain, chased sweat thirsty goats away from my backpack, saw a wolf the length of a car, and had a gaggle of buffalo sneak up behind me while in fishing in Yellowstone. Even with all dumb events and dangerous animals I've encountered, the most painful experience of my life was stepping too close Copperhead in SNP.
Moral/long story short, snakes are weird, especially Copperheads. Always keep a first aid kit on you when you're fishing or spending time in the wilderness. If you're not alone, employ the buddy system. SNP has a lot of snakes, especially Copperheads. Watch where you step and be careful. If you get bit by a poisonous snake do not ice it, or apply a tourniquet. Last but not least, especially when you're in friggen snake country, wear closed toe shoes.
Snake bites suck, and your ego will not only be the thing throbbing in the most pain for the days to follow.
