Shoshone Switchback

“The Shoshone are often referred to as the Snake Indians because of their proximity to the Snake River, although their name actually translates more directly to The Valley People,” says Bev Doolittle. “From a place called Warm Valley (part of what today is the Wind River Indian Reservation), war and hunting parties would climb up into mountains. I know from my own riding that a group of riders ascending a switchback often resemble a snake scrambling a hillside. The parallel of a snake climbing out of a valley was too fun to ignore. I even placed a snake hieroglyphic in the painting to further identify the tribe.”