Charles Hood Charles Hood grew up by the Los Angeles River, where at the age of 10 he saw his first snake. He has been a Fulbright scholar, a National Science Foundation Artist-in-Residence in Antarctica, and an author of Wild LA as well as two other natur guides. In his travels he has eaten mopani worms in Zambia and live ants in the Amazon before coming to live in the Mojave Desert, where he always has extra water in his car and at least one snake hook to scoot reptiles off midnight roads. Read More Read Less