Central Florida's Biologist

We woke up at 8 too a cool, sunny, mountain morning and got right to processing the DOR red diamond rattlesnake from last night.

After preserving the snake we spent the late morning and early afternoon doing laundry and getting another shower at camp. While the laundry dried, we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Feeling refreshed, we headed to Julian, CA, to meet with two local herpers (aka people who look for reptiles and amphibians), Bill and Kent. Before meeting them, we had spent some time in Julian, which is a fun small town that we all really enjoyed. The residents were all very nice and welcoming, the weather was beautiful, and they have tons of neat shops and places that sell local goods. I recommend visiting if you get the opportunity. A nice, older gentleman, fondly called “Whiskers,” told us that the town was founded by confederate soldiers who settled because of the area’s rural, secluded peacefulness. Jason and I also enjoyed aJulian Pale Ale each at the Nickel Beer Company, a very fun, relaxing local hangout. We all tried their chipotle pickles, which were quite an experience. Thanks to everyone we met in Julian, we’ll be back!

We picked up some local sausages in town and headed to Jess Martin Park to make dinner (sausage pasta). While there, we met the park’s caretaker, Chris, who was really nice, offering to help us in any way he could and telling us some fun snake anecdotes.

After the delicious pasta, we met up with Kent and Bill to road cruise. Kent was nice enough to have been following with our blog, and helped us correct a few misidentified lizards that we had posted (thanks, Kent!). Bill and Kent were a wealth of information about southern California, snakes, and other fun wildlife. We really enjoyed the ride with them, especially since they guided us to some Pacific rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus). We also salvaged a DOR glossy snake (Arizona elegans), saw 2 live glossy snakes, and one live spotted leaf-nosed snake (Phyllorhynchus decurtatus), a new species for us.

We stopped to camp at 1AM on BLM land.