Newberry Mountains, NV

[DevinBergquist]

A few months back I attended the N.A.F.H.A. Rocky Mountain Chapter Field Event 2015 in the Newberry Mountains. I never did post any pictures from the trip so I thought I would put some up. It was a great time and it was great meeting everyone who attended.

My buddy Seth Cohen and I met up with the rest of the group on Saturday morning, we were there the whole day Saturday and part of Sunday before I had to take off. The weather wasn’t super cooperative, the high on Saturday was right around 68 with 100% cloud cover, wind, and intermittent rain showers. Sunday morning warmed up a bit more than the day before, but the wind continued, still the event was a major success. Here are my photos from the weekend.

Seth and I took off herping not long after we got there on Saturday morning, at about 9:00am and about 64 degrees we spotted this dark Speckled Rattlesnake out on the crawl.

Not long after that we found this Western Diamondback out on the crawl as well, as I came around a bend in the wash we both startled each other a bit and it went into angry atrox posing mode.

It quickly calmed down and went into “you can’t see me mode” and we moved on.

We headed down a different canyon and met up with Blake. We saw 5 more Speckled Rattlesnakes, I didn’t take photos of all of them, but here are a few.


Speck in a bush

Then came my favorite find of the day. We turned back up the canyon to head back towards camp, it was getting late in the day and we weren’t prepared for a night hike. On the way back up the canyon, between and large boulder and a bush, I noticed what at first glance looked like a red shoe string. My eyes quickly focused on a Regal Ringneck Snake out on the crawl.


The weather turned bad at sunset, it dumped rain on us and dropped in the 50’s. A few people tried to road cruise, but with the cold rainy conditions I don’t think anything was found. On Sunday morning Seth and I headed out again and found another Speckled Rattlesnake.

Another highlight was finding this pair of Coachwhips mating, we took a few photos and moved on.


We decided to check out a different area where met up with Jason Jones. We found this large Gophersnake out on the crawl.

Then just before it was time to leave Seth spotted this Gila Monster out cruising around. Turns out this was a repeat Gila Monster that had been found two days earlier on Friday, pretty cool.

Right after that I had to get on the road back to California and I think most others went their separate ways as well. Others saw some really cool stuff as well like: Desert Tortoises, Gila Monsters, Kingsnake, Groundsnake, Patch-nosed Snake, a few other things that I am missing.
Here is a photo of the Groundsnake that Mike found


Once again, it was great meeting everybody and I hope to see you guys in the future.


Devin

[Bob McKeever]

Very nice Devin. Sorry I had to miss the trip.
Bob

[AndyO'Connor]

Nice job on the mating coachwhips, gila, and regal. I love the regals in that area, no ring and a super light grey dorsal. Some can look aquamarine, blueish, or greenish grey.

[JEDDLV]

Great pics, thanks for posting. I'm so sorry that I missed this one.

[hellihooks]

I HATE that I wasn't able to make it...

[Jimi]

Thanks for the pics, Devin! That was a pretty fabulous time, I've never even heard of such a good run of specks in a tiny area and short time period. What was the overall event total, something like 12-15?

Turns out this was a repeat Gila Monster that had been found two days earlier on Friday, pretty cool.

Yeah he looks kind of familiar, ha ha. The other, second one was skinnier, yeah? That's cool we didn't freak him so bad he stayed underground for a week...very cool.

Interesting there's that lined Sonora morph down there - up here we only have the orange & black banded or saddled one.

Sorry we missed each other by a day. You're out of Riverside County? See you sometime, I hope.

All those who missed the whole event - hopefully we'll have another trip soon. There are noises for something in early fall, not too terribly far from the last one.

cheers,
Jimi

[DevinBergquist]

Very nice Devin. Sorry I had to miss the trip.
Bob

Thanks, Bob. Bummer you had to miss it too, Seth has talked about some of your work with Specks and Panamints, I was looking forward to meeting you.

[DevinBergquist]

Nice job on the mating coachwhips, gila, and regal. I love the regals in that area, no ring and a super light grey dorsal. Some can look aquamarine, blueish, or greenish grey.

Thanks Andy. I don't often stop to take photos of Coachwhips anymore (unless there is something unique about them), but being able to get a few shots of them mating was definitely cool, I was stoked to see it. I agree, I love the Regals from that area, it was my favorite find of the weekend.

Devin

[DevinBergquist]

Jeddlv, thank you. Bummer you missed it, it turned out to be a fun weekend.

Devin

[DevinBergquist]

Thanks Hellihooks, with the weird weather I didn't think it would be as good as it was, but it was a pretty successful couple days. Too bad you couldn't make it.

Devin

[DevinBergquist]

Thanks for the pics, Devin! That was a pretty fabulous time, I've never even heard of such a good run of specks in a tiny area and short time period. What was the overall event total, something like 12-15?

Turns out this was a repeat Gila Monster that had been found two days earlier on Friday, pretty cool.

Yeah he looks kind of familiar, ha ha. The other, second one was skinnier, yeah? That's cool we didn't freak him so bad he stayed underground for a week...very cool.

Interesting there's that lined Sonora morph down there - up here we only have the orange & black banded or saddled one.

Sorry we missed each other by a day. You're out of Riverside County? See you sometime, I hope.

All those who missed the whole event - hopefully we'll have another trip soon. There are noises for something in early fall, not too terribly far from the last one.

cheers,
Jimi

Thank for your comments Jimi. It was pretty cool to have all the specks out, we saw 5 in like a 30 minute window.

The sonora was pretty cool, that was actually the first lined one I have seen in person. I am more familiar with the banded phase as well.

Yep, I am out of riverside. Are you nearby?

Devin

[Brian Eagar]

Nice job Devin!
I really like the regal and the mating coachwhips.
It looks like it was a fun event and an interesting place to explore.

[Rancorrye]

Looks like you guys had a great trip. Love that speck in the bush. Hopefully I can make the next one.

Rye

[DevinBergquist]

Nice job Devin!
I really like the regal and the mating coachwhips.
It looks like it was a fun event and an interesting place to explore.

Thank Brian. It was great weekend and one of the cooler spots in Southern Nevada to explore. Hope to see you there next time.

Devin

[DevinBergquist]

Looks like you guys had a great trip. Love that speck in the bush. Hopefully I can make the next one.

Rye

Thank you, Rye. It was fun, it would have been cool to see you there, next time.

Devin

[Jimi]

Are you nearby?

Unfortunately not so much. I'm up here (SL,UT) with Rye and Brian, which is decent consolation or mitigation for the location. It's actually a cool city, just a lot farther from the southern border, and the ocean, than I'd prefer. C'est la vie...

Ever been to the Chemehuevis? I'm curious what the specks look like there, on the south end. There's some good outflow washes to walk, right from a nice quiet paved road (which looks very cruisable). The mountains themselves would take a decent walk. Maybe our group can rally down there, a triple-Chapter meet-up. Maybe we could get a Cali Gila there, who knows...

cheers,
Jimi

[DevinBergquist]

Are you nearby?

Unfortunately not so much. I'm up here (SL,UT) with Rye and Brian, which is decent consolation or mitigation for the location. It's actually a cool city, just a lot farther from the southern border, and the ocean, than I'd prefer. C'est la vie...

Ever been to the Chemehuevis? I'm curious what the specks look like there, on the south end. There's some good outflow washes to walk, right from a nice quiet paved road (which looks very cruisable). The mountains themselves would take a decent walk. Maybe our group can rally down there, a triple-Chapter meet-up. Maybe we could get a Cali Gila there, who knows...

Hey Jimi,

I lived in SL, UT for a few years while at college, not a bad place to live. It is beautiful up there, but I prefer to be a little further south where it doesn't snow too much and I can herp nearly year around haha. I grew up in Southern California so I ended up moving back towards home.

I have never been to the Chemehuevis, but it does look like an interesting place to explore. Count me in if a meet-up is arranged.

Devin

[Jimi]

Re: Chemehuevis, I would think April or so would be dependably decent, weather-wise, for Gilas and specks (and boas & ringers higher up???), but also that thunderstorm periods in summer (like is happening right now to their north, and happened extensively last summer) could be great for opportunistic outings and sightings. A wet summer might also lead to a decent fall there. Hmm.

It's a pretty hard-looking little rock pile, SoCal's version of the TAs. I don't know if it would be worth the rather long sand-slog into the jagged areas but like I said just the big washes flowing off the bajadas on the south side look pretty cool. I have scouted up them a little in the off season. Blazing white granitic gravels. Pretty crazy-looking, really, I have to get back and herp it for real.

There's a trailhead to something called Trampas Wash (flows to river; low pass to cross) off US 93. Not sure that's the way I'd want to go at it. But Trampas, being the main drain so to speak, might be the best place in the range to see a Gila. Maybe...

So anyway, maybe I'll revisit this topic in spring. I think the chance at Gila and boa glory might entice some of the SoCal & Phoenix crowds. If the Vegas boys get sick of all that lushness up there (ha ha...) they might also be intrigued. Also, a decent chance for walking vs "just" cruising a SoCal atrox probably appeals to some. I dunno, maybe I'm just a boonies-loving freak.

If I find myself down your way before then I'll give a PM holler. Quite possible; got a buddy wants a lyre. Also, late April 2016 might be the time for NAFHA-national in SE Oklahoma or some such. Another conversation...and another reason to get to SoCal sooner than later.

cheers,
Jimi