The sun was setting over the mountains as we reached the low desert to the west of Tucson. We had a favorite road or two from our previous trip that we wanted to work, but once again the rains had made things difficult for us. These roads were of fine dirt and sand, and where the roads crossed washes coming down off the mountains, this material was thick and wet. We had to drive down into the washes and up the other side at high speed, to avoid getting stuck. Rather than continually run these washes, we decided to stick to a smaller set of roads where we ran less risk of getting stuck.

We were saddened to find a DOR Sidewinder early on, but it also gave us hope that other snakes would be out and about. Finally, on a north-south road we happened upon a lump in the road that looked like a rock, but turned out to be a coiled Sidewinder!

Alone on a little dirt road out in the desert night, we took our time examining and photographing the snake. It was an average-sized adult, and it cooperated fairly well, as sidewinders go. A nice looking snake and our fifth Crotalus species of the trip. I was happy we could find one for Tracey to see; it's no good to say "oh, we found two Sidewinders here last time" and then come up empty-handed. Overhead, the stars in the Milky Way shone with cold clarity, a view you can only get far away from city lights.

On an east-west road, another snake! A Longnose, climbing the embankment on the roadside. We grabbed the snake before it could get off the road. It was a nice looking adult, and we were very happy, since we had terrible results finding live snakes on the road this trip.

Further cruising into the early morning hours turned up nothing more than a few Bufo alvarius, and then it was time for us to go. We had to drive up to Phoenix, get through security and catch the 6 AM redeye flight home.