Sixth Day - North Carolina |
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Santeetlah Dusky |
I camped in North Carolina, near the town of Cherokee, on the eastern slope of the Smokies. The next day would be the sixth day, and the last day, of my trip. The campground was situated in a narrow valley coming down out of the mountains, and there were a number of hiking trails for me to investigate the next morning. The night sky was clear, and the campground quiet as I sat by my small fire and considered the events of the past week. I was happy to be out under the sky again, listening to the Spring Peepers down by the creek, instead of holed up in a motel waiting for the rain to stop. The next morning I packed up all of my gear, and then picked a likely trail and headed upslope. The morning was clear and cool, and as I hiked along I noticed that the soil here was very dry, much like it was around Big Levels back in Virginia. There were still springs and seeps and streams to check out, and I managed to turn up a small number of Santeetlah Duskies, some of which were quite prettily marked. Despite covering six miles of very scenic trails that morning, I could come up with nothing else, and it was finally time to bring the trip to a close, time to point the truck westward and cover the last leg of my big Salamander Swing. By the time I pulled into my driveway, I had traveled around eighteen hundred miles and had seen twenty four different salamanders, fifteen of them for the first time. It was most satisfying to finally see some of the forms I had been staring at in field guides for more years than I care to count. I had learned a thing or two about finding species and identifying (and sometimes mis-identifying) them. I had immersed myself in their habitats, and learned more about their natural histories. As it is with any kind of nature studies, the more you learn, the more questions you have; I look forward to my next opportunity to go salamandering.
Ravine Salamander (Plethodon richmondi) |
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