Last year I made my first trip to Snake Road. I found a bunch of "easy lifers" like a Ribbon Snake, Cricket Frogs, Cave Salamanders, Yellowbelly Water Snakes, etc. This year I made the trip again, hoping to find some of the trickier "lifers" as well as get reacquainted with Snake Road's more common residents.

The trip went something like this:

THURSDAY
I arrived Thursday, October 6th at around noon. The temperatures were in the low 80's. I checked out some artificial cover along the way, and found my first snake of the trip - a freshly shed Western Ribbon Snake.

Shortly afterwards I found this Yellowbelly Water Snake underneath a tire.

A ventral shot.

I then figured it was time to get to my destination.

When pulling into the parking lot, I got the feeling that maybe there were already some other herpers on the road.

Cricket Frogs could be encountered in decent numbers in puddles in the parking lot, as well as in other areas along Snake Road where there was shallow standing water.

Eventually I made it onto Snake Road.

This is the kind of thing that a lot of first-timers want to see. I saw a total of 10 Cottonmouths on day 1.

Sometimes when you approach them, they do this.

Hey, what are those people down the road looking at?

Answer: Big millipede.

This is always a fine sight to see.

Everybody likes Rough Green Snakes.