Hiking LaRue Pine Hill Snake Road | Snake Migration | Shawnee National Forest

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Well, howdy folks. Sean here from Hiking with Shawn and today we are at the Rupine Hill Snake Road here in the Shauny National Forest. It's currently spring migration 2026 and we're going to go walk the road.

[00:00:16]It's a little chilly today, but sun is trying to poke out here and there, so there could be snakes. We'll see. Snake Road is a very special place.

[00:00:28]There are many different ecosystems of plants and wildlife, flowers and trees.

[00:00:37]If you've never been here before, there are some rules.

[00:00:42]Foot track foot traffic is open um to the road when the gates are closed, but no vehicles or horses or bicycles can go in. Collecting or harming is prohibited.

[00:00:54]Snake tongs, hooks, snake bags, anything that could restrain, hold, or imprison wildlife is prohibited.

[00:01:03]So, you can't have any of that. Can't collect mushrooms here.

[00:01:09]That's because it's a special place.

[00:01:11]So, you can go around the gate. Foot traffic is welcome. If they catch you with snake handling equipment or collection equipment or they catch you in the act of handling or harming a snake, you could face a fine and even jail time. So keep that in mind. The best way to enjoy Snake Road is to stay on the road.

[00:01:35]You don't want to get off the road cuz it could damage the e ecosystem, but also because it's full of sting and nettle and that really hurts.

[00:01:49]Snake Road isn't just a place to come look for snakes. It's also a great birding area. Lots of birds, lots of wild flowers, plants.

[00:02:03]All all sorts of stuff to see out here pretty much all year around, even when the roads are open.

[00:02:23]Snake Road is full of swamps and bluffs.

[00:02:26]In the fall, the snakes migrate into the bluffs for the winter for hibernation.

[00:02:31]And during the spring, right now, they migrate out of the bluffs and into the swamps for mating and eating and water fun. Very healthy.

[00:02:44]>> Oh yeah, >> he's coming back.

[00:02:48]>> There is a snake.

[00:02:49]>> This water's cold.

[00:02:50]>> It's like Yeah, >> he's hunting.

[00:02:55]>> He got it, >> did he?

[00:02:56]>> Yeah.

[00:02:57]>> Oh, cool.

[00:02:58]>> Holy smokes.

[00:03:00]>> Nice.

[00:03:01]Yeah, he's over there getting him some something to eat.

[00:03:05]>> All right, here's another water snake just hanging out.

[00:03:10]And you don't usually see these very often on the road. So just hang out.

[00:03:20]>> Beautiful swamp environment.

[00:03:25]You see all things all sorts of things out here in the swamps. Snakes, frogs, occasionally even otter.

[00:03:36]You can search in my videos and find a cool video I took of an otter eating a lesser siren out here.

[00:03:45]>> Pretty cool. Yep.

[00:03:50]All sorts of tadpoles.

[00:03:52]The FFA.

[00:03:55]Future frogs of America.

[00:04:09]All right, folks. Got a copper iris.

[00:04:13]Ain't that pretty?

[00:04:16]Very cool.

[00:04:19]All righty, folks. We hiked to the end of the road, gate to gate. Now, we're going to hike back. It's about 2.5 2.6ish miles.

[00:04:31]from gate to gate. Then you got to hike back.

[00:04:35]So you'll get a little over five miles depending on if you go past the gate towards Otter Pond or turn right and walk down the road a little bit like we did seen the copper iris. But uh you know you can get anywhere from fiveish to six, seven miles out here if you want. if you really wanted to.

[00:05:02]And some people will do multiple trips.

[00:05:05]I remember walking the full road three times. Um it's gravel, so you know, it's a little uh hard. So the next day I was in I was pretty rough condition, pretty wore out.

[00:05:21]I rarely uh walk I really don't walk it that many times anymore. But if it was a nice day and I started early, I'm sure I could still do it. Just have to take some ibuprofen later.

[00:05:37]Right now, Snake Road is a place to see to see all the dragon flies.

[00:05:44]There's been quite a few of them. A lot of greens, occasional blue just hanging out. They'll stay still for you.

[00:05:54]get a good picture or video. It wouldn't be right if I didn't say that uh you know, you should download an app called I Naturalist. Not not sponsored, but I put it I took a picture of the dragonfly. I put it in submit and it shows that's a eastern pond hawk and you can see pictures of it and you know it tells you where you observed it and everything like that and doing that helps science. So, I naturalist is a really cool free app for your phone and uh you can take pictures of little little critters uh whether it's like insects or snakes or little lizards and skinks and stuff or even just plants and uh flowers. And if you don't know what it is, you can take a picture and it'll help you identify it. You can learn something. Um and it also contributes to science even if other people have has done it. You know observations multiple observations can still kind of um give those working in biology and science the scientific community uh a feel for how much observations are occurring you know a year a season so on and so forth. So, I naturalist is a really good app to bring out here to Snake Road and observe and learn and contribute to science.

[00:07:30]All right, folks. That was Snake Road at the Rupine Hills Research Natural Area here in the Shauny National Forest. Hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, be sure to like, comment, share, subscribe, all that good stuff. Check the description for a free guide for hiking this area. And until next time, see you on the trail.