Headed a couple hours East from Seattle yesterday to an area near Ellensburg. The weather wasn’t ideal (60 degrees and partly cloudy), but I really wanted to get some herping and hiking in before heading back to the cube for 5 days. I hadn’t been there before, but it looked like the closest place to find some good semi-arid landscape and hopefully some good herping.
Found this handsome little NorPac under a rock about 10 minutes after arriving. He was about 18” long, and had better color than most I’ve found in WA.
20 minutes later, we spotted this ~30” racer (coluber constrictor) poking around in a dry creek bed. I don’t think he saw us until we were almost on top of him. It’s hard to see in the photos taken with my point-and-shoot, but he had some nice coloration for a racer. These guys are a whole lot easier to catch when they’re a little chilly.
