It is almost certainly a lost pet
The snake on your garden path is, in the overwhelming run of cases, an escaped pet, a corn snake, royal python or similar harmless species that slipped a vivarium door a street or two away and has been following fence lines and wall edges ever since. It is cold, exposed and frightened, and it wants a dark hole to disappear into, not a confrontation. Knowing that changes your job completely: you are not dealing with a wild animal problem, you are the person who happens to be standing between a lost pet and its way home, and the worst outcomes come from panic, either yours driving it into deep cover, or a neighbour's attempt to deal with it themselves.
Keep watch without cornering it
Bring children and pets indoors first, then settle at a distance where you can keep the snake in view without looming over it, ideally with a clear note of the landmark it is nearest. A watched snake stays findable; a snake that feels hunted slides into the one tangle of roots or the one gap under the shed where nobody can follow. Do not prod it, herd it or try to steer it with a broom. If it moves, note the direction and the cover it chooses. The single exception is a building: if the snake slips into your garage or shed, closing the door on it is a genuine favour, because you have just contained it safely without touching it at all.
Call the people who lift snakes for a living
Your phone calls go to a local reptile rescue, an exotics vet, your area's animal warden service, or the experienced keeper networks most areas have, and what they will want from you is exactly what your watching has gathered: rough size, colour and pattern, where it is and where it is heading. A catcher arriving to a snake whose position is known to the metre is finished in minutes. If anyone suggests you simply pick it up yourself, decline unless you are genuinely experienced and completely sure of the species; a bite from even a harmless snake, and a frightened snake will bite, is a poor reward for good intentions, and handling can injure the snake too.
Helping it get home
While you wait, a word to neighbours and a post in a local community group often reaches the owner faster than any official route, because the owner is very likely out searching the surrounding streets at that moment, checking exactly the fence lines and warm corners you would expect. Keep the details slightly general in public posts and let a claimant describe the snake to you, so it goes back to its real home. Escaped snakes are usually recovered remarkably close to where they got out, and your calm half hour of watching is frequently the whole reason this one is.
When the owner is a KinsLe member, the conversation about their snake, what it looks like, where it was seen, when the catcher is coming, lives in KinsLe Messenger, the per-pet hub where finders and owners talk until the animal is home.