My uncle lives along the lewiston river in washington state. My boyfriend and I were walkingn along the river for fun. I had kept an eye open for snakes (the fish in the river attract them) but hadn't seen any. As we were heading towrds the wooden stairs to go back to this house, this little beauty popped out onto the bottom step. It was easy to catch. Right now it's sitting in a plastic container (we're still at my uncles, and his wife isn't a fan of snakes so we're going to relocate it at this point).

What I'm wondering is if its male or female and what type of garter. I'm thinking female and northwestern. I have some pictures but I can't post them right now. I have just this one, that my boyfriend took with his phone:

wcgarter.jpg