An enormous snake was recently sighted by a hiker at Florence’s Jeffries Creek Park. If Indiana Jones had seen this he would most certainly have turned around quickly. Meredith Langley gushed about the snake-like object she had just seen in a Facebook post she shared with the South Carolina Hiking club.
It didn’t escape Langley’s attention how perfectly the snake mixed in with its natural habitat. In her post, Langley wrote: “This was a good teaching opportunity and example for my own kids who forget not to run ahead of me on trails!” A brown water snake (Nerodia genus), which is not deadly, was recognized as such by Greg Lucas, a biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
Because of their thick, muscular bodies, the water snakes Lucas described appear larger than they actually are. According to him, water snakes grow to their full size between 30 and 60 inches. Langley claimed that on their weekly hikes in the area, she and her children come with copperhead snakes. Water snakes and water moccasins are common in the area, she added. The snake Langley saw was at least four feet long when fully extended, according to her calculations. The beast was “wholly unafraid of us,” she continued.
“It watched me with stillness and reserve, and without aggression or fear. That told me that this creature knew with certainty that it was capable of defending itself if needed, but it need not exert that energy unnecessarily,” Langley said. She expressed her appreciation for the chance to see the monster and then slyly walked away. “That area is its home, not ours, and my children and I maintain that respect and reverence anytime we are out in nature,” Langley said.