VAN DAMME STATE PARK
On the next day I went for a drive a few hours north to look for my first "lifer" of the trip. I passed landscapes that looked like this.

And eventually made it to this habitat.

I saw some Ensatinas.

And many, many Banana Slugs.

This Trillium reminded me of my home state of Ohio.

Then I found my first "lifer" of the trip - a Rough Skinned Newt.

A few more were seen "on the crawl" as well. Most were not far from this creek.

Slender Salamanders were present too.

Finding a "lifer" is great, but finding two in one day is even better and that's exactly what happened when I spotted this Northwestern Salamander. It's the largest salamander I've ever seen in the wild - they can get to 9-3/4 inches.

As I was leaving I saw this Banana Slug eating a banana peel on a State Park garbage can.