Mississippi's Most Snake-Filled Lakes And Rivers Are Not For The Faint Of Heart

For those who missed the news bulletin, Mississippi is a pretty wet place. It's home to 4 million acres of wetlands, tons of swamps, marshes, estuaries, and deltas, is the fourth most humid state in the U.S., and even has that big, ole' waterway running right along it, the Mississippi River. All that moisture is generally uncomfortable for people, excellent for pests like mosquitoes, and also great for everyone's least favorite legless reptile, the snake. Snakes are particularly drawn to Mississippi's waters, especially five bodies of water: Enid Lake, the Gulf Islands National Seashore, Sardis Lake, the Pearl River, and the Mississippi River.  

For context, Mississippi has one of the highest amounts of snake species in the U.S., right up there with Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and Louisiana. It's home to 55 species of snakes, six of which are venomous – that's fewer venomous snake species than rocky and butte-filled Utah and its waters, but more than forested and water-rich Massachusetts. Mississippi's venomous snakes are particularly nasty, though, and include three rattlesnakes: the harlequin coralsnake, the eastern copperhead, the northern cottonmouth, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, the timber rattlesnake, and the pygmy rattlesnake.

Out of all of Mississippi's venomous snakes, only the northern cottonmouth is semiaquatic. All snakes can swim, though, including rattlesnakes. Some snakes swim above the surface, and some beneath it. As everyone knows, snakes also love to slink and slither through the underbrush along shorelines and in wooded areas. Travelers to any of Mississippi's lakes or rivers should keep one eye on the ground and another on the water while paying a visit, and give any and all snakes a wide berth.

Located in north-central Mississippi, about 80 minutes south of Memphis, the ragged shores of Enid Lake prove as attractive to people as they do to snakes. Enid Lake's 28,000 acres play host to the whole gamut of camping, swimming, boating, fishing, picnicking, hunting, horseback riding, wildlife watching, hiking, and more. All of those fun human activities intermingle with ground and water that four of Mississippi's six venomous snake species call home: the northern cottonmouth, eastern copperhead, pygmy rattlesnake, and timber rattlesnake. And because snakes are so secretive and don't really like people all that much, that's just the snakes we know about. In other words, there are plenty of reasons to stay cautious while visiting Enid Lake, whether you're in its waters or frolicking around its perimeter.

As for your visit, we already mentioned Enid Lake's extensive offerings. Enid Lake is basically a one-stop shop for a myriad of water and land-based outdoor activities. There's an extensive selection of access points around the lake, each with its own specialized activities, day passes, camping permits, boat passes when applicable, and more. Ford's Well along the lake's south is designed for horseback riders and has 18 camping sites for guests to use to camp with their horses. Hickory Ridge Recreation Area on the lake's north side is a family-oriented area with beaches, a basketball court, and a rentable amphitheater for events like weddings. Wallace Creek has a wide boat ramp for folks to slip their vessels into the water. On and on it goes. But in all cases, guests would be wise not to lose sight of safety while having fun. The worst-case scenario involves a visitor becoming a snake bite statistic and needing a trip to the emergency room.

Our next snake-filled body of water runs along the Gulf Coast all the way from Cat Island, Mississippi, to Santa Rosa Island, Florida. More commonly associated with Florida — particularly Pensacola in the Florida panhandle — the Gulf Islands National Seashore comprises 150 miles of powdery beaches, narrow slips of sea-adjacent land on what are called "barrier islands," and also plenty of marshes, deltas, estuaries, etc. That characteristically soggy Mississippi terrain is where we'll find our snakes. On the non-venomous front, we've got the fairly harmless eastern ribbon snake and black racer (aka, North American racer). On the venomous front, we've got our eastern diamondback rattlesnake and northern cottonmouth (sometimes just called "cottonmouth"). That's enough reason to watch your step while walking or your stroke while swimming.

Nonetheless, would-be visitors to the Gulf Islands National Seashore will find plenty of reasons to venture near and into its waters. For all practical purposes, the same activities are available on either the Mississippi or Florida side of the seashore. This means camping on the beach in a tent or away from the beach in an RV, boating or hiking along the coast, fishing at designated locations, and, of course, snorkeling and swimming in the water. However, visitors have to consider legal caveats related to the seashore's interstate divide. Fishers in Mississippi need a Mississippi State Saltwater Fishing License, for instance, and must have their boats certified in Mississippi. Hikers in Mississippi might walk on sand, but won't necessarily be taking beach hikes — they're more wetland jaunts. This last point brings us back to snakes in the underbrush. Tread lightly and keep an eye out.

Sardis Lake is a ragged-edged, snake-infested freshwater body like Enid Lake, except much bigger, at over 98,000 acres. It's also closer to Memphis, but because of its size, it might take longer to get to (90 minutes or more), depending on your access point. Sardis Lake is also actually a reservoir despite being called a lake — a flood control reservoir, no less. And, it's the largest artificial reservoir in the state. 

On top of all this, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) manages the lake, which, for visitors, means that it comes with a blessedly well-organized chart on Corps Lakes Gateway for understanding what area of the lake permits what activities. Boating is okay in some locations, as is fishing and swimming. This is true despite the Mississippi law code having some precise rules about activities in reservoirs, like needing to swim 0.25 miles away from boat ramps. Only three of the lake's recreation areas permit swimming, anyway: Cypress Point, Main Beach, and Paradise Point. Ten sites permit camping, some with electric hookups for RVs, and a whole bunch have boat ramps. 

All this organization and structure can't keep out snakes, though. Almost all of Sardis Lake's massive perimeter is encased by woods, which makes it doubly appealing to snakes and a double threat for visitors. Three venomous snakes live throughout this area: the northern cottonmouth, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, and the timber rattlesnake. Cottonmouths are so adept at swimming that they're also known as water moccasins, and rattlesnakes travel freely across all terrain. There's no need to walk around paranoid, but also don't take chances. We doubt that the Army will dash to your rescue and open fire on any serpentine assailants.

Next, we come to the Pearl River, which, like its bigger cousin, the Mississippi River, empties into the Gulf of Mexico (renamed the Gulf of America in 2025 by U.S. President Donald Trump). The Pearl River forms the southernmost part of the squiggly border between Mississippi and Louisiana to its west, while the Mississippi River delineates the rest of the border. But, snakes know no such borders and slip along and aside the Pearl River as they please. The non-venomous watersnake, the Mississippi green, lives in the Pearl River. So do cottonmouths, harlequin coralsnakes, and all three of Mississippi's rattlesnakes: the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, the timber rattlesnake, and the pygmy rattlesnake. That's five out of the state's six venomous snakes.

While this doesn't exactly make for a ringing endorsement of jumping into the Pearl River, the brave and daring can still pay a visit. Unlike the lakes in our list, there's no central Pearl River management authority that oversees the river's entire length. Instead, it'd be up to visitors to check for activities on and around the water. There are official water- and land-based Pearl River tours that folks can sign up for, for instance, like the Devil's Swamp Eco-Walking Tour that sets out from Pearlington near the Gulf. 

There's also one governmentally operated wildlife refuge along the river on the Mississippi side, the Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) calls it "a labyrinth of sloughs, bayous and lakes" at worst. The FWS also selected a head-to-toe camouflaged, rubber-booted dude carrying a crossbow to depict the refuge's hunting options — just to give the reader an idea of what they'd be getting into. Rubber boots won't stop a rattlesnake bite, though.

Finally, we come to that most massive, mythical, and mighty of American rivers, the Mississippi River. Simply by sheer size and naming convention (after Mississippi), it has to make our snake-friendly bodies of water list. Starting at Lake Itasca in Minnesota, the 2,350-mile-long Mississippi River flows all the way to the Gulf. It needs little introduction for its significance to everyone, from tribal nations to Mark Twain. The "Father of Waters" (to Algonquian-speaking peoples) and "America's River" continues to play not only a massive commercial and ecological role in every state it runs through, but is predictably home to lots and lots of wildlife, including snakes. Species include the non-venomous eastern hog-nosed snake and northern water snake, plus the venomous northern cottonmouth, timber rattlesnake, and eastern copperhead. This, of course, doesn't count any snakes that defy human borders, as mentioned before.

Thankfully, the Mississippi River is so gigantic that you can at least move to a different location if you sense or see danger. If you spot some rattlesnakes inside St. Catherine Creek Wildlife Refuge along the river, let's say, you can just hightail it out of there and head to a cute, little antebellum town like Natchez, about 25 minutes away down the road. Just bear in mind that if you've got certain outdoor activities planned along the river, like hunting or fishing, be careful of which state you're in. North of the Pearl River, the Mississippi River doesn't perfectly follow the Louisiana-Mississippi boundary, meaning that you don't want legal troubles in addition to potential snake bites. And even though you can go swimming in the river, we wouldn't necessarily recommend it, not only because of snakes but also because of pollution in certain areas.