Jun 25, 2009 6:30 pm US/Pacific
Colo. Woman Hikes An Hour After Rattlesnake Bite
A late morning hike took a dangerous turn when a rattlesnake bit a Denver woman. The victim had to hike down by herself to get help.
It happened Wednesday morning on a trail in Mount Falcon Park in an area called the Devil's Elbow.
Susan Schwartz was hospitalized at Swedish Medical Center but released Thursday afternoon, reports CBS station KCNC-TV in Denver.
She hiked about a 1.5 miles out of the park by herself after being struck by the rattlesnake.
It's popular with mountain bikers and hikers, but Mount Falcon Park is also home to rattlesnakes.
"During that time she put a constricting ban around her lower leg to ease the blood flow so that the venom wouldn't spread through her," said Don Schoenbein, Indian Hills Fire Chief.
She hiked about an hour by herself while the poison worked its way through her body. A ranger called 911.
"She was complaining of tingling throughout her body. She did have swelling where the snake bit and she did have some pain in that area and she did have some other symptoms like nausea and vomiting," Schoenbein said.
Rescuers say she was bit just below the knee. The snake's bite mark showed about an inch between the fangs.
At the same park a few hours later another hiker nearly stepped on a rattler.
"It was completely sprawled out across the trail," hiker Lucas Siegfried said. "It kind of gave me a little heart attack. I jumped back when I saw it."
"Luckily it didn't coil up and it wasn't aggressive," hiker Stacey Koch
They say it was greenish-brown, stretched about 2 1/2 feet long and seemed kind of big.
Park rangers say the snake they saw probably wasn't the one that struck Schwartz.
"We have a lot of snakes that live all through Jefferson County and probably a 100 snakes living in this park," park ranger Shaun Howard said.
Park rangers say the most important thing to remember if you are struck by a snake is to stay calm and get away from the snake and call 911. They say don't run or move around too much as that will send the snake's venom racing through your body.
Rangers say don't kill snakes because they are crucial to the ecosystem since they get rid of a lot of rodents.
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