This snake was a youngster, with one rattle segment plus the button on the end. The tail was a brilliant yellow, and the snake wiggles it to imitate a fat grub or caterpillar to attract a lizard. This snake was sporting a sizeable lump mid-body, and I was willing to bet there was a fair-sized Mountain Spiny Lizard inside this little rock rattler.

We handled the snake as little as possible while taking pictures, not wanting the snake to regurgitate its meal. This where plant saucers and similar items come in handy, providing a place of dark concealment while the photographers ready themselves.

We put the fat little rattler back under his rock and continued down the trail. Down the trail is certainly easier than up the trail, and since you're looking at the back side of everything you've seen going up, the fresh perspective keeps things interesting.

Masses of clouds continued to grow over the surrounding peaks, and as we reached the stream it looked like rain was in the forecast. I scared up a stump-tailed Madrean Alligator Lizard, but the creature zigged when I zagged and made it into a small burrow and out of my reach. I was terribly disappointed, since I hadn't seen one of these lizards in the wild since I was a young boy. We got a good look at a pair of Painted Redstarts, as the male chased the female through the undergrowth. I was hoping we'd see this bird again; on our last visit, we watched a male court a female with an elaborate ritual, head tucked and wings outspread and fluttering as he hopped a little dance.

We reached the trailhead and the frog pond just before the heavens opened up. I got a few more pictures of the frogs as the raindrops moved in, still marveling over their size and robust appearance. At night, the frogs leave the pond and hop into the vegetable garden to eat insects, the landowner tells us. We bought a bag of orchard apples from her and sat out the rain on the porch, thinking about Arizona thunderstorms and rock rattlers and leopard frogs in the tomato patch...

Dinner in Sierra Vista at a Mexican place, complete with a strolling mariachi band. The beer was cold, the food was hot, and the musicians were very good. It was a nice way to relax our tired bodies a little before heading out for the evening drive.

Road cruising...a lonely little stretch of dead-end road yielded only a toad, but it was a new species for us - Spea multiplicata, the Mexican Spadefoot. Not as flashy as Scaphiopus couchii, but a pretty little toad nonetheless. The large metallic eyes are an outstanding feature.

Switching to some roads along a river basin, our first find was a large Diamondback, whose ground color matched the colors of the rocks and soil in this place. As usual, this one wanted nothing more than to crawl away from us, and the nice rattle set it was sporting remained silent. We took a picture or two and let it disappear into the night.

After a DOR juvenile atrox we found a live one, and spared it from death under the wheels for at least one more night. Another young-of-the-year with a meal in its belly; all over the southwest, little rattlesnakes born just a few weeks ago were foraging across the landscape, looking for that first meal.