I chalk this up to Friday the 13th. Worst hike ever. First of all I stayed up until 4 a.m. watching the meteor shower in the front yard and later in the Phx Mtn Preserve so I got a pretty late start.
I started at the Hatchery TH with the intention of heading up Babe Haught then eastward on the General Crook trail (probably a stupid idea considering my previous experience with that trail further west) then down Horton Springs trail then back to the TH via the Highline.
The Babe Haught trail became completely covered in waist-high grass about 100 yards from the TH. I pushed on another 50 yards before hearing a rattle in the thick grass about 15 feet in front of me. No worries as I've been looking to hit up the Highline for a while. I went east on the Highline for about 1.5 miles before the trail degenerated into a similar situation: waist-high grass. I couldn't even see my feet. Needless to say I heard another rattler a little ways up the trail so I just decided to pack it in. Pretty weak. It was a pretty warm day that featured zero one-finger salutes on the highway unlike my trip to Flagstaff last week.