Within a few feet of starting our hike down the tracks, we found our first snake, a nice Gray Rat about a yard in length.  This snake was quite a bit darker than the one we had found the previous day, and unusually placid for a large rat snake.  We put him back under the loose railroad tie where we found him and moved on.

One of the great things about railroad tracks is that when the ties are replaced, the old ties are generally left on the side of the trackbed.  Despite the harsh coating of creosote, it isn't long before wildlife takes advantage of them.  Rodents, invertebrates, salamanders and lizards use them as a place of refuge, or to lay eggs or give birth to young.  All of this activity attracts snakes and other predators.

As we walked along, these tracks were turning up a nice assortment of the 'usual and customary' railroad herps - Southern Toads, Eastern Narrowmouth Toads, Southern Fence Lizards, and assorted skinks including a Broadhead or two.  We also sighted but didn't capture another Eastern Glass Lizard.  The next snake to come our way was an adult Southern Black Racer, this one without a brown chin.

Railroad tracks can be dangerous for turtles.  A turtle can manage to cross over or under one rail, make a right or left turn and find itself trapped between two long iron walls.  The turtle is open to predators and faces dehydration and starvation if it can't find an exit.  Finally, there are the trains - fast moving trains can create a lot of turbulent wind in the trackbed.  It is not unusual to find empty turtle shells between the rails.

Fortunately, the shell we found between the rails was full of turtle, full of Yellowbelly Slider, a full-sized adult female.  When picked up, a lot of sliders pull their heads in as far as they can; this old girl stuck hers out, jaws open and ready to take a bite out of us.  We were happy to set her back down outside the rails.

Rick came up on a half-dozen old ties all in a row, half-rotten and half-buried in the soil.  "I've got a big snake here inside this tie!" he yelled.  Tracey and I perked up and headed over. "All I can see is a section of belly," Rick reported.  About this time the snake moved and we realized what it was - Diamondback!  At this point it poked its fist-sized head out of the hollow and a bright blue eye stared back at us.

There was no way of extracting  this snake from the tie without risking damage to its skin.  We did want to have a closer look, so each end of the fortunately long tie was picked up and moved onto the open gravel of the roadbed.  At this point the rattlesnake decided to come out of its log completely, and with a little gentle coaxing it settled into a coil and rattled at us while we took its picture.

Before returning the EDB to where we found it, Rick went to check the rest of the railroad ties in the group, and the very next tie yielded another surprise - a Florida Cottonmouth.  This snake was a yard long, ill tempered and uncooperative, and it took a bit of doing to get it down to the tracks on a snake hook.  We never could get the serpent to coil or calm down; it was only interested in getting away from us.  We took some pictures and let it crawl back under a tie, and then gently put the Diamondback and its hiding place back where we found them.

And that was it.  We had no more time left for herping.  As much as we wanted to continue, it was time to head for home.  It had been a good trip, full of great herps and other wildlife, and our time in Okefenokee was an enjoyable adventure.