Hiking + Amphibians = Happy Children


Happiness is flipping over a rock and finding a salamander . . . but you've got to flip a lot of rocks before you hit the jackpot; we tried our best at the Mohonk Preserve, but it proved salamander-less, but the next day, while we were hiking to Awosting Falls in Minnewaska State Park, I tried my luck in a drainage gully that ran alongside the trail, as it was damp and full of rocks . . . and there was a salamander under every stone . . . sometimes even two or three salamanders, but only the red-backed and Jefferson varieties, not the elusive yellow-spotted salamander (although we did find a yellow striped mimic millipede).

8 comments:

Clarence said...

What happens when you flip over a rock and find a copperhead?

Dave said...

you grab it by the neck, speak in tongues, and then bite its head off.

duh.

rob said...

translation: you run screaming and leave your children to fend for themselves.

Dave said...

just had to pull over, jump out of my car, and then open all the doors and the back hatch and kill a giant wasp that was flying around inside. scary, but i did NOT scream-- not once.

Squeaky said...

Are you trying to tell us you didn't over react by not screaming?

Dave said...

two school secretaries were in the car behind me. they thought it was pretty funny. one of them said, "you want me to get it for you?" the other said, "go get'em, dave!"

Clarence said...

Huh -- Dave, we'be been friends for 25 years, and you've never tried to kill me . . .

Dave said...

you're one of the few giant WASPs i make that exception for . . .

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