By morning the flooded road was again passable, and we headed west to Sycamore Canyon, our destination for the day. Our last visit here in 2000 was very productive, and we hoped to repeat our success. Vine Snakes were a possibility here, more than enough reason for a visit.

The sun was shining this morning, and the drive along the narrow dirt road was a scenic one, with foothills and mountains rolling southwards to a horizon somewhere in Mexico. A pair of Phainopepla greeted us as we arrived at the parking area, a new life-lister for Steve and Tracey - I had already met this bird in the low desert east of San Diego.

The creek running through the canyon was full of water from yesterday's rains. A frog jumped in the water and disappeared before we could get a good look at it - probably Rana chiricahuensis, a species we had seen here on our last visit.

The herps were slow in coming. On our last visit the creek was thick with Blacknecked Garter Snakes, but we saw nary a one this time. A small blue-tailed skink got away from us, and I scared up a Sonoran Whipsnake, which beat me in a race to a rockpile. It was frustrating, to say the least. Still, the sun was shining, the scenery incredible, and the air filled with butterflies - Checkerspots, Tropical Sulphurs, and a Queen or two. It was hard to complain too much.

I passed a tumble of boulders on the north side of the stream, slightly shaded, with patches of moss and pocked with fist-sized holes. "This looks like a good place for Canyon Treefrogs," I said, and when I poked my nose in the first hole there was a pretty Hyla arenicolor looking back at me. My companions find me unbearable on the rare occasions when I 'call' a herp, but Steve went ahead and took a 'smug shot' of me pointing at the frog rock. Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while...

A female Clark's Spiny Lizard posed nicely for us on a boulder as it soaked up the morning sun. We also turned up a Desert Grassland Whiptail, in the process of shedding and eating her skin. We carefully scanned bushes and shrubs for Vine Snakes, and this yielded a nice Tillandsia, a species of much interest to Tracey.

Following the daily pattern of our trip, the sky clouded over, and soon thunder was booming down the canyon. We were several miles down the canyon, and decided not to go any further - getting caught in a flash flood did not appeal to us. Going back through a thick patch of nettles, Steve spotted another blue-tailed lizard on a log, and we got a good look at this specimen. This was the Mountain Skink, Eumeces callicephalus, and it posed quite nicely on the side of the log while I hunkered down in the nettles to take its picture. No matter where I go, I seem to end up in the nettle patch at some point on the trip, but it was worth it to get a good look at this new species.

The rain started coming down, and we stopped and took refuge under an overhang, taking a breather and munching on some beef jerky and trail mix. We again donned our rain ponchos and slogged our way out of the canyon. I was very disappointed, since I wanted to see Blacknecked Garters and Chiricahua Leopard Frogs again, and had assumed these species would be an easy repeat.