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Hi all,

Just got back yesterday from a weekend long trip to Central Washington. My intentions for going there were first and foremost just to spend time with some of my good friends, so I didn't spend as much time as I could have in the field, but I'm still happy with our finds. I even got some of my non herp friends tromping through the brush, looking for cool critters. Here's the final count (for herps, at least):

Western Yellow Bellied Racer - 2 alive, 1 dead
Painted Turtle - 1 alive
Great Basin Gopher Snakes - 2 alive
Western Sagebrush lizards - Too many to count
North Pacific Rattlesnake - 2 alive

And now for pics:

The first racer we found was crawling very near the Columbia River, just a few yards up from the bank in some bush. An extremely feisty little guy! But a superbly stunning snake.

The second racer we encountered was in amongst large, rocky outcroppings on a hillside in large sagebrush fields; he wasn't quite as nice as the first one, but his attitude was slightly improved.

We found this poor guy, who looked like he'd had an unlucky encounter with some creature bigger than he - and the ants were finishing him off.

This painted turtle we found crossing the road... twice! On the way towards our river destination, and also a couple hours later on our return trip in the same spot... both times we made sure to move him well off the road, and luckily he seemed no worse for the where.

More pics to follow!

-Christian-
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pythonelmer.com

2.2 Amazon Tree Boas
1.1 Soloman Island Tree Boas
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1.0 Green Tree Python
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We encountered two Great Basin gopher snakes on our trip. The first was as tame and quite as any corsnake I've ever held... quite unexpected based on my prior experience with this group of animals. He had quite a bit of tan and cream colored, with nice brown saddles. He was basking on some large man-placed boulders lining a small boat launch where we parked our vehicles down by the river. Interestingly, he was spotted by the least snake-enthusiastic member of our trip, and was the first snake we found as well.

The second gopher was found in the same general area, crawling along a sandy beach by the Columbia river. This guy was a bit more hissy, but still no biting or musking.

Western sagebrush lizards were pretty much under almost every overturned rock or log; fascinating little lizrds, and extremely quick. They look like tiny fish swimming across the surface of the sand.

Finally, the big boys. We found two northern pacific rattlesnakes. The first I spotted sitting under a bush along a small path through some sagebrush just up from the river. Unfortunately, this guy seemed to have had a run in with some nasty creature, and had a large flap of skn torn away, exposing muscle and bone underneath. He seemd alert and healthy otherwise, however, and hopefully he'll heal up okay.

Unfortunately, Albert found the second rattler, a juvenile, but did not have any film at the time, and the rest of us were out of earshot, so no pics.

Just thought I'd share a group pic I thouht turned out pretty well. Hope you enjoyed my herping adventure!

-Christian-
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pythonelmer.com

2.2 Amazon Tree Boas
1.1 Soloman Island Tree Boas
1.0 Borneo Blood Python
1.0 Green Tree Python
1.0 Southern Scrub Python
1.1 Ball Python

Wow. Awesome photos, and some great finds. Thanks for sharing that. BTW, which one are you in the pic?
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