That's interesting about the rattlesnake at that location. The only place in the US where I've ever seen a rattlesnake in the wild (despite lots of hiking in the West and Appalachians) was near the GAP Trail in Garrett County, Maryland, which is the westernmost county in the state (west of, but very close to Frostburg). It was a big, fat, Timber Rattlesnake. When my friend & I rode from McKeesport to DC last summer, we saw a few snakes, but not any rattlers or copperheads. We actually were able to ride thru the Paw Paw tunnel without much difficulty. My friend brought a decent light just for that tunnel, and I followed closely behind him. We had one big bump somewhere, but otherwise it was fine. We were fortunate in that there were few walkers at that particular moment. We were both riding Bike Fridays.