My last two PNW adventures

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the_cw1
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Joined: April 2nd, 2015, 8:30 am
Location: Utah
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My last two PNW adventures

Post by the_cw1 »

I had two big adventures in the last week. I hit the desert for two days with technoendo who's a real stand up dude (or sit down because we did so much driving/cruising, haha). We hit quite a few sites, had some fun, shared stories, and I bequeathed my Wasco snake site to him. I think it is in good hands. :beer:

ImageMantid nymph macro by Derek Halm, on Flickr
Cool mantid nymph I flipped at catherine creek. I've never quite seen this color pattern before, so I quite enjoyed it.

ImageNorthern alligator lizard by Derek Halm, on Flickr
An alligator lizard that technoendo found. Pretty solid size and temperament.

ImageGopher snake at sunset by Derek Halm, on Flickr
A cool gopher snake that was having heaps of fun getting some sunlight at the golden hour. It loved to strike at first, but then became so placid later on.

ImageCrotalus oreganus macro by Derek Halm, on Flickr
The world's *dumbest* rattlesnake. We cruised it around 11:30 at night and it must have been around 58-60 degrees outside. No idea what it was doing, but it was fun to see.

After the trip with technoendo, I went out for a day to "make my younger brother a man" and show him some rattlesnakes. Lots of fun was had. He got to see dominance displays from fence lizards, some (very!) feisty rattlers, and we even cruised a DOR night snake (I'm not posting the pic because some folks might not want to see it; I can pm details for folks if curious). The cruising was really good. 3 gophers and 3 rattlers in less than an hour. Wasco county delivers, friends.

ImageHatchling gopher snake at sunset by Derek Halm, on Flickr
First gopher I've seen this small. Was around 5 inches.

ImageNorthern pacific rattlesnake - crotalus oreganus oreganus macro by Derek Halm, on Flickr
A pretty easygoing snake that became *very* feisty midway through. Lots of fun, and first rattler my bro had seen. Was quite the experience for him.

ImageNorthern pacific rattlesnake - crotalus oreganus oreganus by Derek Halm, on Flickr
The most erratic snake I've ever seen. It was unpredictable and I didn't want to get too close.

ImageNorthern pacific rattlesnake - crotalus oreganus oreganus macro by Derek Halm, on Flickr
Loved the colors on this last one. :)


The last few days have been great. I want to thank the NW herp community for some good fun and friends. I'll hit you guys up in a few years after I'm done with grad school. Midwest forum, I hope you're ready for a philosophical snake dude. :p
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technoendo
Posts: 112
Joined: December 13th, 2014, 5:27 pm

Re: My last two PNW adventures

Post by technoendo »

Hey!

So I also had a 2 part trip where the first part was thursday/friday which lined up with the_cw1's weekend from work. As I grew up in Hood River I knew of a few private/other sites to share with him, and from his posts here on FHF I knew he had great success herping near Wasco and I was eager to herp east of The Dalles. Both of us had never been to Catherine Creek before and we found a few other sites we hadn't seen.

The second part of my trip on saturday/sunday was my 11th wedding anniversary. My wife and I kept our schedule open but after hearing of the herping success with the_cw1 my wife was interested in road cruising Wasco (until 1am on saturday night!). We also hiked all over Catherine Creek and explored western Hood River.

As I'm usually saying these days... "I'll have a video up from this trip in a few weeks"

NSFW warning, some DOR snakes: Here are my herpmapper reports all reptiles found on this trip I got photos of

I can't compete with the_cw1's awesome macro shots, so I'll share some pano's and crappy phone pictures!

ImageSouthern Alligator Lizard

ImageNorthwestern Fence Lizard, found on a fence

ImageHeron, Great Blue I think?

ImageCatherine Creek looking towards Mosier and Mt Hood. I like blue button flowers

Imagethe_cw1 had just found a DOR juvenile gopher snake nearby while I admired the habitat of the fallen one

ImageEven on a cooler day the rocky talus and canyons of Catherine Creek radiated heat that baked our souls

ImageBlurry potato quality pic from my phone at dusk... I am a happy man to have a lady that goes on herping adventures on an anniversary! I used a hook to get a grumpy gopher snake off the road near Wasco and then it chilled out and then tried to convince me it was semi-arboreal with some sweet climbing tricks.

Thanks for being a trooper through the weather, the_cw1! Despite not being the best conditions we still found some snakes! \o/
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technoendo
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Joined: December 13th, 2014, 5:27 pm

Re: My last two PNW adventures

Post by technoendo »

Just remembered I have a video from my June 26 trip exactly one year ago. 10 year anniversary where I picked a brutal hike to fish for a pretty looking non-native trout, but during an unexpected heat wave, and we lost a chunk of our water supply on (look for a 40oz Hydroflask bottle somewhere in the canyon below). By the end of the trip we were overheating and having to just lay down in the small creeks and waterfalls (unable to drink, didn't carry a LifeStraw at the time) and take lots of breaks on the way back. When we did finally make it back to the car just before nightfall we drove straight to the nearest grocery store where we each purchased multiple half gallon containers of juice/tea/lemonade/popsicles which we sucked on for hours.



So this year's trip wasn't a death march! Success! I learned a lot of hard lessons from that trip last year. I now drive a giant water cooler with a suburu logo on it, carry Lifestraws, carry multiple fluid sources, pay closer attention to the weather, and avoid uphill elevation on long hikes as I'm soft and squishy.
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TravisK
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Joined: July 8th, 2010, 11:14 am
Location: Eastern Washington

Re: My last two PNW adventures

Post by TravisK »

Nice guys!

Looks like a good time was had.
If anyone wants to do some Central WA road cruising then hit me up.
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