San Bernardino Peak Trail – mama rattler warning

We came across a big, mean, and we and ranger think pregnant mama rattler around 9000 ft 6-6.5 mi up the San Bernardino Peak trail on Monday, June 24, 2017. It was super aggressive - coiled, hissing, spitting, and rattling up a storm as it made its nest apparently under the rocks right next to the trail. It took several attempts to throw rocks in the vicinity to cause vibrations to scare her (but not near her) from my hike partner who is knowledgeable about snakes to get her to even budge and retreat slightly down the hill, at which point we RAN past with her still making all sorts of noise. Talking with the ranger, he agreed as snake looked "thick" and was behaving so aggressively she probably was pregnant with eggs so was hyper-reactive. It may have been all show, but her behavior and coiling sure made it look like she was ready to strike. As this was so far up the mountain, it would have been for sure a MedEvac situation and a tricky one at that. The other member of our team had gone ahead of us at that point; when we caught up to him, he said he also stumbled upon the snake and she exhibited the same behavior. So it appears she is quite committed to that trailside spot. I did file a ranger report and will call fish and wildlife to see if they can relocate the snake to a safer spot for her and hikers. But for now, exercise extreme care in that portion of the trail. It was when we went around a "corner" of the mountain to the left and we stumbled quite suddenly on her. Other than that, trail was groomed really well and mostly soft sandy dirt with just a few easy rocky spots, more so at the highest elevations. A beautiful hike, and even with a light rain falling the last half of our descent, the trail surface absorbed the water nicely and no ponding or runoff issues.