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Thamnophis elegans vagrans
Fairly long from what I can recall off-hand. Hard to give a ballpark guess, based on the way it moved and being unable to see it fully due to the rocky location, and various grass and plants providing the snake with cover.
It was found in a rocky area beside a small lake, just off of the main trail in a nature park.
A rather rare find for me, more often than not I primarily find birds or deer on my outings.
Definitely a northwestern garter snake and not a wandering, note that it only has 7 supralabials (scales along the upper mouth), whereas T. elegans has 8. Also not the small head, the black line behind the eye, and no black between the supralabial scales. (I study these guys, and am quite sure)
The spotting location narrows it down to the Common/Puget Sound Garter Snake, Wandering Garter Snake, and Northwestern Garter Snake. The black dotted pattern identifies this individual as a Wandering Garter Snake, according to the Peterson Field Guide of Western Reptile and Amphibians. Nice spotting!
According to gartersnake.info, there are three species of Thamnophis found in BC. http://www.gartersnake.info/species/cana...
I'm not familiar with the garter snakes of BC, but Thamnophis ordinoides, the Northwestern garter snake is a possibility. It likes edges of woods where it can get some sun. The color pattern is really variable, so there must be some other way to identify the species.
Garter or Ribbon Snake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natricinae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colubridae
Spotted on Aug 27, 2012
Submitted on Feb 20, 2013
