Name that snake!

Perusing through some old photos, I stumbled upon this unforgettable memory.

It was a hot day in the Arizona desert, and my partner and I were stumped on this particular geologic problem. Walking around the outcrop for a couple of hours did not seem to help. We stop and stare, as lost geology students often do. Staring hard, as if commanding the outcrop to hand me the CliffsNotes. But, to no avail.

Puzzled, thirsty, worn, and beat – I decided to sit down and think about things, still staring at the outcrop before me. That’s when I will never forget the look on my partner’s eyes, glaring at the site of my blindly chosen seat…

Two words were whispered, spoken softly as a feather: don’t… move…

Of course, after seeing that look… What I heard was “AAACK! YOU’RE GONNA DIE! YOU’RE GONNA DIE! YOU’RE GONNA DIE!!!” So, following her orders, I screamed like a banshee (or a school girl – depending on who’s telling the story) and leapt like Carl Lewis. After landing on the moon, I turned around to see a stretched out rattler, just chilling out.

Where was I going to sit down, you ask? You can see it on the photo, where the tree throws a nice shade onto some boulders… Right smack in the middle of the rattler.

If anyone has an idea on the identity of this snake, please comment. Also, the photo is quite bad in terms of color and focus. The snake was a tad more green than the photo shows it to be (the lack of focus was probably due to my shattered nerves). The head is hidden by a rock (far left), while the tail is black with a yellowish/beige tip (far right). The length was slightly over a meter.