Snake Road in Illinois' Shawnee National Forest is only known road in U.S. to close for reptile migration

It's officially Forest Service Road 345 but it's far better known as Snake Road, an incredibly rare stretch Illinois' Shawnee National Forest that may be the only street in the U.S. to close for no-legged friends.

Indiana Jones would shudder, but for herpetologist Scott Ballard, a slither doesn't produce a sliver of fear.

"This is the best place to come and get rid of all your concerns and negative energy," he said.

Snake Road is a rather straight road. It's the reptiles that provide the twists and turns.

Why did the snake cross the road? To get to the other side – no joke.

"This road is going in between their summer foraging areas in the swamp, and their fall hibernation areas in the bluffs," Ballard explained. "And they have to cross this road to get from one to the other."

So every spring and every fall, Snake Road closes to cars.

"That protects animals from being incidentally killed by vehicles running over them," explained U.S. Forest Service Officer Anderson Harris. "It's the only road in the U.S., to my knowledge, that we close for that migrations of the amphibians and reptiles."

As snakes migrate across the road, people migrate to it.

"People from around the world come here," said Harris.

For so-called "herpers" – snake enthusiasts, that is – the biannual snake migration is a must-see.

"It's definitely everything I thought it would be. It's great. Even if I didn't see any snakes, this is a gorgeous hike," said visitor Max Hicks.

The hike is two and a half miles down and back, and it never gets old for Ballard.

"My mom brought me home a snake for my 10th birthday and that started it," he recalled.

Ballard ended up studying Snake Road for his Master's.

"I said in my thesis, we need to close it longer, and so the Forest Service then incorporated my recommendations of two full months in the spring and two full months in the fall," he said.

From Sept. 1 through Oct. 31, the reptiles have a clear path and people can get a clear view of more than 20 snake species. Three of those species are venomous, including the northern copperhead, which Ballard said are among the hardest venomous snakes to find in Southern Illinois.

At the end of the day, Snake Road may not be up everyone's alley, but we can all agree it's good to unwind. 

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