I arrived at Snake Road on October 7th at 4:00 in the afternoon. It had been a cool day with high temperatures only reaching the mid-50s.

The trip went something like this:

SUNDAY
Snake Road is located in Shawnee National Forest in extreme southwestern Illinois.

In the autumn reptiles begin to migrate over to these limestone bluffs where they will spend the winter protected from the elements.

Although warm in the areas where there was sun, I only found one snake, a young Western Cottonmouth.

Some cool-looking yellow-orange fungi.

Eastern Fence Lizards like to hang out on tree trunks. They will run up a tree and stay on the opposite side of the trunk as you (like a squirrel) if approached too closely.

Locals sometimes refer to these reptiles as Blue-bellied Swifts, due to their speed and the blue coloration of males.

A group of herpers from New Mexico were still around after a weekend of herping.

Marissa doesn't give up easily when it come to finding herps in less-than-ideal conditions, so we looked for (and found) Cave Salamanders and Longtails.

Longtail Salamander.