Happy New Year

It's too early to tell if this Winter will be as rainy as the last one, but we're off to a good start, with a little rain falling during the week, and more rain falling as I type.

The road leading to camp is still being repaired from the damage sustained last Winter, with the new completion estimate being mid-February. Of course, the work didn't begin until the rainy season began, so there is a big possibility of weather-related delays complicating matters.

The first week of the year went well, with the all-day hike finding us in a drizzly, foggy wonderland of mist-obscured trees and marching newts (we counted 71 of them on that one hike). The newts were out in force for the night hike as well. We actually got back a little late because of all of the newts (and millipedes) I had to move out of the trail. We found a lone female Western Toad too.

The coolest find of the week was a small adult Pacific Giant Salamander sitting on the walkway near the parking lot.



This week also marked the debut of the Flat Rock Scorpion I bought over the break. A couple of the classroom teachers actually held it (but not the kids, because I never let them hold anything with a stinger). Here she is in her UV drenched glory:



The forest is beautiful this time of year. It always is, but the rain and fog paint such mysterious pictures.





Someday soon, we'll have a new Hognose Snake at camp. I bought a new one this weekend. The one at camp is around 25 years old (I bought it in the early nineties, but I can't remember the year), which is well beyond the life expectancy for the species, so I think it's time to bring it home and let it retire in peace. I've already successfully fed the new one a thawed pinkie too.