On the next day I had about half a day free for some further herping, while my wife hung out with some friends. I headed over to the east side of Portland and picked up Ned Hazlewood, a young friend of mine. Ned is also interested in slimy, scaly things that creep and crawl, so I was pretty sure we'd have a good time out hiking around.

We drove up into the Columbia Gorge, heading for a state park that looked like a promising area, complete with water fall. We hiked up the waterfall trail, looking for critters. The landscape on the forested slopes was lush, covered with ferns, bleeding heart, solomon's seal and other vegetation. The waterfall was spectacular, and it was cool to be able to walk behind it. We looked under rocks for salamanders but none made an appearance. The soil and the vegetation were pretty dry - no rain here for a few days.

Back down the trail, we eyed the railroad tracks running along the base of the Gorge. Railroad tracks are usually good places to find herps, because there are usually old ties and other debris lying about next to the railbed. There was a wide open strip of flat ground running along the other side, and we thought we would check it out. We splashed through a cold shallow stream to reach it - Ned was smart in having worn a pair of rubber boots, and missed out on filling his shoes with ice-cold water like me.

The strip along the tracks was not easy going, being choked with blackberry vines. We checked under old railroad ties along the way, but didn't find anything. After a while we headed back the way we came, and I caught a hiss of scales and a flash of movement. I stooped and grabbed and came up with a Garter Snake, a male about 18 inches long. It looked a lot like the concinnus I had seen the day before,  except this specimen had a pair of pale dorsolateral stripes, and a very dark color on the top of the head. This could be Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi, the Valley Garter Snake. I was pretty sure we were now outside the range of concinnus.

Being a Garter snake, it crapped all over my hand and musked me at the same time, leaving me in a fine state of funk. Ned was a bit dubious about holding the snake for a picture, but I assured him that the snake was now an empty vessel. If a hundred foot tall giant stooped down and picked me up, I'd probably do the same thing.

After examination, we let the snake go about its business and moved on. I'm not sure how I spotted it, but I saw a little movement in the vegetation again, and this time I came up with a little neonate Garter Snake. Here was an unusual serpent - it was a dull gray color, with a very faint dorsal stripe. Seven supralabials - T. ordinoides, perhaps? The head looked more like sirtalis, but neonates are usually a little skewed when it comes to head proportions. Well, it was a Thamnophis of some sort. We had a good time looking it over at any rate.

We ran out of time, and had to head back to the car, me stopping to refill my shoes again at the stream.  All in all it was a pretty fun morning - Ned is pretty good company out in the field. Next time I'm in Oregon, Ned and I will have to get out again. I'll be sure to bring some rubber boots.