There was some interesting evidence of habitation though, including a large pile of scat, some bird bits (which at one point attracted a Turkey vulture), and this poor little dead mole.
On the way back from our first hike of the week, I'm embarrassed to say that I walked right by a Mountain Kingsnake. A girl in my group quietly said, "there's a snake back there," so I turned around and gathered it up so everybody could get a good look at it. It was only about 30 feet down the trail from camp, so I brought it back so people could see it, and then returned it to where we found it.
The next day, I got to work and was informed that there had been a rattlesnake spotted mere feet from a couple of the boys cabins, so I went and looked under the hedge and sure enough, this little fellow was staring back at me. A quick sleight of hand later and it was in a bucket. We released it somewhere a little more distant from the well-traveled walkway it had been resting near.
On the night hike, Mountain Lion's field group found a garter snake between a couple of boys cabins. I think that's the first time a snake has been found on a night hike, although since the night hike happens between 7:00 and 9:00, this time of year means it's not really a night hike. As for me, our group found 26 scorpions, which is 4 shy of the record from a couple of weeks ago.
On the all-day hike, or "epic journey", as it is called, we went to Lake Ranch Reservoir. It was hot, so we took a quick peek at the reservoir and then walked toward the shade. I've never taken a group too far up the new section of the John Nicholas trail because there just isn't time. I figured we'd hike at least a small section of it though, so we hiked until it was time to turn back. It was beautiful, and I can see why cyclists like it so much. It's a smooth ride with banked curves and a relatively gentle slope.
On the way back, we were passed by a cyclist. A moment later, he pedaled back to us and asked us if we had "seen the snake". I turned out that he'd scared a kingsnake off the trail. So, if it hadn't been for him, we probably would have seen it. As it was, he got there first and by the time we looked, it was long gone.
On the way back down the road, we found two alligator lizards, one Northern and one Southern. It's nice being in an area where their ranges overlap. The Northern actually reared up and menaced me as I shooed it off the road. The Southern bit me hard enough to draw blood. Here's the Southern:
When we got back to camp, I discovered that we had walked slightly over seven miles. Some of the kids were pretty wiped out. On the table in the staff room was a bucket containing a California kingsnake, just like the one we'd missed seeing on the hike. It was like I was fated to see one, and since the first one was inadvertently scared off, a quick replacement was found. This one had been discovered in the janitor's closet and caught by Otter, our hub host this week. Not that I believe in fate, but it sometimes makes a good story.
And finally, during the final minute of our last field class, we encountered a Gopher snake resting in the shade near one of the boys cabins. Every snake (barring one rattlesnake living in the chaparral) that we found this week was either in the middle of camp or almost so.
This coming week, we shift gears and summer begins. The heatwave continues, although today it's a bit overcast.
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