|
72193
So BW and I are back from camping, and I've had my well needed nap...figured it was time to report on events and findings
You'll have to wait a day or so for pix, but as long as they turn out, we should have some good ones.
We stayed at General Coffee State Park, in deep south Georgia. Upon arriving and setting up camp, my son Dylan immediately found 2 Gopher Tortoise holes, one of which was occupied at the moment by a large male. Later it turned out that both holes also had gravid females. We finished setting up camp, and went for a short hike. We found 1 small fence lizard. We followed this by a long drive down a dirt road. I got tired of driving, so we let Dylan take over (oh, OK, I worked the pedals). He had a ball. We checked out a couple of abandonded buildings and a tin-field, but only found 1 skink. It was waaayyyy too hot. Probably 100 if not more... So yadda yadda yadda, campfire, hot dogs...getting dark. We went to a place BW knows right near the FL border (that's all I can say about where, I've been sworn to secrecy). Here I learned several important things:
1) In the field, should your party and another party come across a pygmy rattler in the road at the same time, "Get off my snake, B*tch!" is a perfectly acceptable greeting. He must of been talking to BW
2) Road cruising is largely a matter of luck. We and Marty Snipes (quoted above) were cruising the same triangular area in opposite directions. They found 5 pygimies (4 if you dont count the one we should have had if we hadnt been more concerned about saying hi than immediately grabbing the snake), we found found 1 anery pygmy and 1 banded watersnake, both DOR
3) Toads, upon seeing a car, will hold still and hope you have the decency to go around them. Frogs are suicidal idiots
4) 3 hours of staring at blacktop in the dark at 15 MPH will cause optical illusions and hallucinations for the next 6 hours
5) Armadillos are faster than you think.
6) If you say, "Look, pigs!" the herpers will look around furiously at the ground for rattlers while the family of Wild Pigs runs off.
So road cruising was pretty uneventful...we got back to camp, made a fire, and taught Dylan the fine art of S'mores while we did a mercy killing on a 12-pack of Budweiser. Other important lessons taught by the fire: swearing, belching, why I wear blue sunglasses, and how to feed and tend a fire.
Somewhere around Dark O'clock in the morning, we went hiking up the Gopher Tortoise road. After sticking his head in about 12 holes (literally...all the way in), we did discover 1 more Gopher Tortoise and a Coachwhip. Also say lots of snake slides going into the tortoise holes. Or maybe it was coming out, cuz we didnt see any in there. Back to camp and to sleep for a few hours.
By the time I woke up, around 10 or so, Brian was already fully feeling the effects of Heat Exhaustion. We decided to scrap the rest of the day, and just head back home. While packing the tent, we found a broadhead skink. After the car was loaded, BW went to go throw away the trash, and on the way back came across a good sized Gray Ratsnake. It should be noted, for the sake of the pictures that follow, that it was hotter than #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^& all day saturday, and although it did drop down to the mid 80's overnite (sleeping in a pool of your own sweat sux), it was a blast furnace again by 10:30. As for the farmer tan, he'll have to explain that himself.
Anyway, that about sums it up...we had a ball, found a few herps, and lived to tell about it. Gotta call that a good trip. We'll get pix up as soon as possible
|
