And Then... I Found Myself In The Desert (after the storm)

), when some interesting weather occurs. There was a 4 day thunderstorm and I had told Ilikesnakes I’d take him on his first desert trip. So we tried our luck and found ourselves driving through a brutal hailstorm as we crossed the Sierras.

I did great the first time I did this. End of September, hard rains, found a DOR Panamint in the road, rain harvesting stripe whipsnake, and a ton of lizard activity after the rains cleared up the following day. However, it looks like everything got rained out because we didn’t find much at all. I wish we would’ve been able to catch the first day of the storm. I mean July thunderstorm… Only thing going through my mind was rain harvesting Reptilians everywhere :lol:

This surprisingly to me, was the least productive trip I’ve had so far. ILikesnakes was still pretty stoked And had a great time. But I was feeling defeated :lol:

Still, I love the desert habitat! And it was great just being in it. I’ve also been doing a month-to-month study each time I do a desert trip… So, I’ve got March April May June, this was the first July trip. I’m gonna have to go when it’s not raining. We also saw a couple nighthawks (lifer for me) in the road and had an awesome bobcat encounter.

John Martin wrote:

I'm intrigued with the dorsal shot of the horned lizard - looks like a couple of crocodile heads in my vivid imagination LOL.

that’s awesome! I see what you’re talking about :thumb:

I like that shot of me staring into the sun with the little shadow me standing on my shoulder lol There is even a couple indentations in my shirt where the feet would be placed :lol:

I love trippy photography like that which has hidden things :beer:

Porter · **Joined:** March 19th, 2011, 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1933

Oh yeah, I should also mention that we only caught the End of the storm

Ross Padilla · **Posted:** September 12th, 2018, 10:11 pm

Very nice! I really like that horned lizard. Those are one of the coolest lizards in the world.

Porter · **Joined:** March 19th, 2011, 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1933

Ross Padilla wrote:

Very nice! I really like that horned lizard. Those are one of the coolest lizards in the world.

Thanks Ross :beer:

I agree. They’re rad looking. What an amazing array of scale shape and construction. A true work of Art. I was telling Bill, “Well, at least we found two of the coolest lizards the desert has to offer.” In an apologetic tone lol ..and he’s like “dude Im happy just to be here. That snake was awesome” :mrgreen:

lol

We saw a couple collards too :thumb:

DRDAN · **Joined:** November 1st, 2017, 6:54 pm **Posts:** 6

The canyon heading into DV from Panamint valley has some nice specks as well as the trona road.

Porter · **Joined:** March 19th, 2011, 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1933

DRDAN wrote:

The canyon heading into DV from Panamint valley has some nice specks as well as the trona road.

Thanks for the tip :beer:

I normally drop in from the northern side up near Mono and take 395 down. My first trip out there was the only time I went as far as south of DV. Lots of cool abandoned trailer houses out there! Flipped my lifer night Liz and banded gecko down there. I think I drove Trona or pass through the town of it… It is a town right? Lol. I remember I saw some desert tortoise crossing signs at some point, went past some white dusty mining area, and saw some signs for San Bernardino but I’m not sure if we were actually in San Bernardino. I had my exgirlfriend with me and we’re driving during the day and I couldn’t really check those areas however I did check the abanded houses And flip some Joshua tree debris

Have you ever cruise the 190 grade the drops down into death Valley from that side? I’ve wanted to for a few years now but still haven’t

DRDAN · **Joined:** November 1st, 2017, 6:54 pm **Posts:** 6

Hi porter
I’ve worked in DV off and on for the past 30 years so yes I have used most if not all routes into or out of the park at some point. 190 is hit and miss as is most of the area but one can be surprised once in awhile. I vouchered a rosy off the 190 in July so go figure.

Porter · **Joined:** March 19th, 2011, 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1933

DRDAN wrote:

Hi porter
I’ve worked in DV off and on for the past 30 years so yes I have used most if not all routes into or out of the park at some point. 190 is hit and miss as is most of the area but one can be surprised once in awhile. I vouchered a rosy off the 190 in July so go figure.

Wow, a rosy! That’s awesome. I’m almost got stuck out there with my ex exploring those canyon roads... So close to running out of gas. We barely made over to that East side for fuel after driving Scott’s Flat or Scotts Valley rd whatever that road is ...Found my lifer winder in DV. :mrgreen:

coiled in the road and right next to a banded gecko and some other lizard that ran off, fringe toe maybe...idk. Yep very hit and miss. Most of our exploring results were unsuccessful

DRDAN · **Joined:** November 1st, 2017, 6:54 pm **Posts:** 6

DV is definitely not a place to get “stuck” especially during the summer lol. The rosy was a surprise, had we not passed a Cadillac full of tweakers from NY, the snake would have been smashed so listen to your intuition. Snake was relocated off the road in the direction it was headed and vouchered on CNDDB. I have not heard of any rosy boas north of this location.

Porter · **Joined:** March 19th, 2011, 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1933

That’s awesome :beer:

yep, I have never come across one out there. And I always pass up tweakers :lol:

it’s a rule of thumb :thumb:

And Then... I Found Myself In The Desert (after the storm)

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