Maybe some kind of corn snake? He's in southern California, and the bike path was along the San Diego river.
Snek
this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2025
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Snake.
Le epic moment
That is a snake
I was thinking the same thing, but thanks for additional confirmation.
EKANS
Moves silently and stealthily. Eats the eggs of birds, such as PIDGEY and SPEAROW, whole.
Look at that! A nope Rope!
A cutie
He was very majestic!
Long mover
It's a snake
Could be a worm
Are you sure?
Ooohhhh it’s a snaaaake
Snaaaaakkkkeeee
no. that's clearly a badger and a mushroom.
A 🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡
🍄🍄
🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡🦡
🍄🍄
I think that he's probably right, but there are legless lizards out there.
Shouldn't drink so much then!
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Snek
Nope rope. More specifically, a danger noodle
All the guesses are either Gopher Snake or Garter Snake, so probably not a danger noodle. Just a nope rope.
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He's a snek
Ah that's my workmate
Looks like a gopher snake
Weird description, rattle snakes aren’t aggressive either. Every one I’ve met has attempted to leave after announcing itself
I have definitely encountered aggressive rattle snakes. I'd be careful about assuming they'll flee.
Speaking as an owner of five snakes, they definitely have individual personalities. Although I wonder if it’s regional too? Most of the ones where I live seem to be lazy more than anything else.
As a kid we had two instances of large rattlers getting into our house and coming after us not to mention the many times I'd come across them in tall grasses. This has given me a heavy reason to give them distance.
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Gopher snake I think?
Snake
No step on snek
No bike on snek either.
I hope OP is asking to find out if it's non-venomous and safe to grab to remove from the path next time.
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I think it might be a Gopher Snake based off of the coloring and the pattern of the spots along its body.
Since he's a gopher snek, he's probably someone's PA, off to fetch a half-caf oat milk latte. And he's harmless. Also, he's native to California. Leave him be.
https://www.calacademy.org/blogs/naturalist-notebook/ask-a-naturalist-rattlesnake-roundup
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Google lens says gopher snake. Google lens and iNaturalist are great ways to help ID all kinds of animals, plants, and fungi.
Edit for clarification. Don't trust any of these image recognition algorithms. They get many things wrong, but they can help narrow down what a thing is.
You've nailed it. Looks like a San Diego Gophersnake - Pituophis catenifer annectens. It was morning, and he was warming up on the asphault. He didn't seem too worried about me, and gave me time to stop my bike, pull my phone out of my backpack, and snap the shot.
I don't think I'd trust image recognition enough for anything potentially dangerous (deciding if the snake is venomous, deciding if a mushroom is edible, etc.), but good suggestion for satisfying general curiosity!
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