Species:

Rhinocheilus lecontei

Long-nosed Snake

Some other names for this species:

Longnose Snake

May 28, 1999
Desert Tortoise Natural Area, Kern County, California
Long-nosed Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei)
We saw three of these attractive snakes by flashlight at night, two adults and one juvenile. All three were still for several minutes before meandering off.
May 23, 2008
Bottomless Lakes State Park, Chaves County, New Mexico
Long-nosed Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei)

My sister and I went out in the evening with the intention of hiking around in some sand dunes to watch all the animals that make those cool little tracks that one sees in the morning when hiking in sand dunes. Unfortunately the parking area that we had scoped out earlier in the day was now filled with off-road vehicle enthusiasts and their giant RVs. We then made a very poor choice of alternate location to pull over, and ended up getting stuck in the sand. An hour or so later, with the help of the very off-road vehicle enthusiasts who were camped out where we thought we were going to park, we were moving again, but my sister's car was now emitting some unpleasant smells and sounds. We just wanted to leave sand dunes and off-road vehicle enthusiasts behind, and headed straight back to our campground.

On the way back, we saw this one beautiful snake in the road. I jumped out to corral it while my sister idled the car for fear of it giving up the ghost altogether. The snake was not very cooperative, and I couldn't spend much time trying to coerce it to pose, so this is the best photo I ended up with.