Reconnoitering the bluffs, we found the usual assortment of salamanders - Longtails, Caves, and Zigzags, always of interest to us. Before too long the first Moccasin appeared, two-plus feet in length, prowling along the bluff base. The sun was out in earnest now, and serpents and mammals alike were feeling better about the afternoon's prospects. A couple of Gray Treefrogs were spotted, one of which was the largest I've ever seen.

Things were definitely looking up as morning gave way to afternoon. Walking north along the road, Marty made a nifty grab on a large Western Ribbon Snake that the rest of us walked right by. This snake had a bright and broad orange dorsal stripe, very pretty. The smaller Ribbon snakes can sometimes be hard to get hands on - they're quick and can be halfway to the water's edge before you can react.

We decided to try the north end of the road, and headed back to our vehicles to drive around. We stopped on the levee road to examine a nice looking Painted Turtle, and to set it off the road out of harm's way. Pickings were slim around Winters Pond, so we set off down the road, and managed to find a newly emerged Cottonmouth out basking in the sun, but little else. The road was flooded down near the spring, and we could find no sign of the peepers that were calling the night before here.

Before calling it a day we drove up and around the Shawnee Escarpment, and stopped at Inspiration Point. The view of the landscape, where the swamp meets the bluffs, was spectacular. Down below a billion little lives were playing out their destinies... Then we were off to the campground to cook supper, have a beer or two and swap some stories around the fire. The temperature had dropped considerably since sunset, and that fire felt mighty good.