In his seminal work, Common Kingsnakes, Brian Hubbs mentions the Highway Stripe morph and details their likely range based on collections. He shows both northern San Diego and western Riverside counties, but most of his collections were in coastal grasslands near Carlsbad or Del Mar, or foothills on the eastern slopes near Lake Elsinore.

Back in the 1980s when I lived in SoCal, I hiked local canyons of the Santa Ana mountains: Christianitos, Modjeska, Silverado, Trabuco. Also south-facing canyons along the Ortega Highway (one had a creek with tree frogs & newts).

I was never lucky enough to see king snakes at that time when in the canyons, and I’m curious. Are the Highway Stripe variety found in these riparian canyons, or are mostly banded snakes found instead?

Don in Portland, OR

1.0 Pantherophis guttatus (Tallahassee locale)
1.0 Pantherophis obsoleta quadrivittata
1.0 Lampropeltis getula californiae

Below is my Photobucket link with photos of my snake and his 40-gallon vivarium.
Link

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