The morning sky was crisp, clear and blue, and there was little remaining evidence of the big rainstorm. The thirsty earth had drunk every last drop. I stopped and picked up some drinking water and a couple of breakfast biscuits. I was going to drink a lot of water today, and the sausage biscuits with egg would carry me for a while. I've learned the hard way that nothing but carbs in the morning leaves me feeling tired and thin during a full day in the field.

On my way back to last night's cruising place I came across another basking Bullsnake, a handsome brute worth stopping to photograph in situ. These Colorado snakes had a decidedly different head shape from the Bullsnakes back home. Their snouts did not have as much of a pronounced upturn of the rostral scale, and looked a little more like Gopher Snakes in profile. I left this one still stretched out in the road.

My first task of the day was to photograph and release last night's serpent haul. I found a flat rock outcrop, shaded by a few small trees, and photographed the Arizona and Tantilla first. These were relatively easy, compared to working solo with a hot, irritable rattlesnake. The little viridis did not want to cooperate and it took me a while to get some passable shots of the cranky little rattler. It really helps to have some else wrangle the snake, and to get the snake's attention. It is difficult to get side profiles and closeups when working solo. I was disappointed with the images when I got home; I thought the neutral grayish-green of the rock would work well as a background, but in this case it did not. The rock contained minute, shiny minerals of some sort, which threw off the camera; most of the images were washed out and had to be cleaned up with software.  I've shot herps on many types of rocks, but this is the first time I had a problem that I couldn't detect right away.

With the snakes released close to their capture points, I headed off to the Picket Wire Canyon trailhead. I was somewhat concerned, since there was a three mile drive along a very rough and rutted track to the gate, and I thought last night's heavy rains might have made parts of it impassable. My fears were all for nothing - the ground had soaked up every bit of the water, and it was difficult to tell that any rain had even fell. I was thankful that my upcoming eleven mile walk would not be extended to seventeen miles.

I parked the car and drank a liter of water, putting three more bottles in my pack. It was going to be a hot day in the mid 90s and I thought I would need all three before all was said and done. I discovered my sun block was back in my luggage at the hotel - my arms were going to be sunburned today and there wasn't a thing I could do about it. I did have my big straw cowboy hat, so at least my head wouldn't be fried to a crisp.

One last check of my gear and then it was time to head through the gate and down the trail into Picket Wire Canyon.