Summer's Over Trip 2002 - NM, AZ, & WTX

Pretty much every year we travel to SE Arizona at the end of the summer for the monsoon season.  Mostly we've focused on collecting in the Santa Ritas, Huachucas, and Chiricahuas, but this year we decided to hit some different ranges:  the Pinos Altos (NM), the Pinaleño Mts (AZ), and the Peloncillos (NM/AZ).  I was really hoping for NM pyros, Crotalus pricei, and Crotalus willardi obscurus (the last two, in order to photograph ONLY!).  But more importantly, the end of summer trip is simply a relaxing family get away to remote and beautiful country.

31 July 2002

After summer school let out, we packed up and headed out.  At the end of the first day out, we met up with Ryan Nelson and hunted the Quitman Mts near Sierra Blanca, TX.  Marla & I had hunted there back in 1994, but in '94 we hunted the Indian Hot Springs area, and tonight we'd be hunting the Quitman Pass road.  After looking over both places, I'm convinced that the habitat (for alterna and lepidus) is better near Indian Hot Springs - at least along the road.

We hunted the Quitmans until about 11 pm, and found:  1 Phrynosoma cornutum, 1 Coleonyx brevis, and 1 Hypsiglena torquata.  The highlight was finding a tarantula hawk tending a tarantula that it had recently stung.  Ryan headed home around 10:45, and we left shortly thereafter.  Instead of cruising directly to El Paso, we headed up FM 1111 to US 62/180 so we could cruise through the Hueco Mts.  On way, we found 3 Crotalus atrox (2 DOR), 1 Crotalus molossus (in Huecos), 1 Masticophis flagellum (very flat DOR), and 1 Scaphiopus couchi.  We spent the night at Ryan's house on the west side of El Paso.

1 August 2002

Left El Paso and cruised the border road (Doña Ana County Road A-006 which turns into NM 9) to Columbus.  Stopped at a couple of lizardy-looking spots on the way, and found:

1 Lampropeltis getula DOR

1 Kinosternon flavescens DOR

3 Sceloporus magister

4 Cnemidophorus marmoratus

TMTC Uta stansburiana

Arrived at the area we planned to camp in the Pinos Altos range at about 3 pm.  Kenny Wray had told me about this place, and said it looked "better than the Huachucas" (nope).  It was a nice place to camp, though, and off the beaten path.  It rained on us off and on all afternoon.  Between rain showers, found:

1 Thamnophis elegans

3 Elgaria kingi

1 Sceloporus undulatus

1 Hyla arenicolor

2 August 2002

It rained off and on all day today.  I hunted in the morning along NM 15, until rain and my traction-less soles made the steep rocks unsafe.  I found:

3 Sceloporus poinsetti

1 Sceloporus undulatus

Once it started raining in earnest, we all drove around the area for about an hour.  Back in camp, during a break in the rain I got out and found:

1 Elgaria kingi

1 Sceloporus undulatus

3 August 2002

Hunted a bit around camp after we packed up.  Took some photos of some orchids (Mountain & Wendt's Malaxis) that I found blooming.  On the way out, I decided to hunt the outcrops where Kenny & I found the klauberi back in May.  There I found:

2 Urosaurus ornatus

11 lizard eggs (which turned out to be Cnemidophorus exsanguis)

Since we were on our way to the Pinaleños in AZ, we decided we'd try and find Thamnophis rufipunctatus at San Francisco Hot Springs, but the water was very silty, and we found no snakes there.  On the way to SFHS from Silver City, we found a DOR Thamnophis cyrtopsis.  At San Francisco Hot Springs, we found:

sev Cnemidophorus exsanguis

1 Sceloporus clarki

Drove on to the Pinaleños, were it was raining when we arrived.  It rained all night and got cold.

4 August 2002

Marla was tired of cold and rain, so we decided to pack up camp and head down to the Peloncillos.  Before we did, we hiked around the canyon south of the campground to check out some outcrops where we had found pricei back in 1985.  Found many rocks turned out of place by idiot herpers who don't understand "put that rock back".  I turned as many back as I could.  All we found there, herp-wise, we Sceloporus yarrovi, but we had minimal sun, and it was in the upper 50s or lower 60s.  We also saw Coues' Deer, Orange-crowned Warblers, Grace's Warblers, Mt. Chickadees.

On the way out, we stopped on the alluvial flats between the Mts and the highway.  Found:

sev Sceloporus magister

sev Urosaurus ornatus

1 Uta stansburiana

sev Cnemidophorus tigris

Next, we decided to check out Stockton Pass in the foothills of the Pinaleños, and ate lunch at the little campground there.  While we were eating lunch, we found sev C. exsanguis and 1 Urosaurus ornatus.  We toyed with the idea of staying there in order to road cruise AZ 266 which looked pretty good to me, but with the threat of rain looming, we decided to press on to the Peloncillos.  On the way out from Stockton Pass, we found:

1 Crotaphytus collaris DOR

1 Bufo alvarius DOR

1 Masticophis bilineatus DOR

On the way down to the Peloncillos, found a Terrepene ornata AOR south of Animas.  Arrived in the Peloncillos on the heels of a small thundershower . . . and found no herps.  At least it wasn't cold.

5 August 2002

Awoke to bright sunshine, and hiked around a couple of canyons east of Geronimo Pass.  Mostly, I focused on rocky hillsides expecting to find a lepidus basking in the sun.  The rocks here have very few crevices or fractures, making the habitat fairly poor.  Found only Sceloporus yarrovi and S. virgatus.

We decided to drive over to Guadalupe Canyon and then into Douglas for supplies.  No one told me that access to Guadalupe Canyon was by foot-traffic only, and I didn't want to leave Marla and Cheyenne sitting in the sun (no shade in parking area).  On Guadalupe Canyon road, found sev. Cnemidophorus sonorae and sev. Holbrookia maculata.  Went on into Douglas for groceries and lunch at McDonalds.

On the way back, as we were driving along near the AZ/NM boundary marker, I heard buzzing from the roadside as I was driving along - stopped and found this nice Crotalus molossus.

Back at camp, I hiked around a bit and found some lizards.  We decided to drive down to check out a lower canyon . . . on the way down, we found an adult Thamnophis cyrtopsis.  I really didn't get a chance to check out the canyon before it started to rain, so we went back to camp to wait out the storm. 

After the rain, I hiked back to the canyon.  It was very long and easy to hike . . . my brother later told me that this was "Turtle Canyon" because Kinosternon were common here.  I found:

1 Kinosternon sonoriense

sev Sceloporus virgatus

At dusk, we tried to cruise Cottonwood Canyon (on the Arizona side), but got rained out again.  I expect that you could find Senticolis here if you tried.

6 August 2002

We got up this morning and decided it was "make or break" time - if we found a good willardi-indicator species like pyro or lepidus then we'd stay another day.  If we found our target willardi or found nothing in particular, then we'd pack up and head to Texas so we could find some snakes.  We hiked the entire length of "Turtle Canyon", but found only:

1 Thamnophis cyrtopsis juv

1 Masticophis bilineatus not caught!

1 Cnemidophorus sonorae

sev Sceloporus jarrovi

sev Sceloporus virgatus

1 Urosaurus ornatus

1 Kinosternon sonoriense tiny neonate

unid tadpoles

On of the things that struck me most about the Peloncillos in comparison to the Huachucas (for example) was the scarcity of lizards - at my willardi spots in the Huachucas, you see Sceloporus jarrovi practically everywhere you look, but here lizards aren't particular common.

Anyway, we packed up and left . . . decided to sight-see a bit and drove down to Cloverdale.  The views of the Animas and Sierra San Luis were great, and you could easily make out Dave Barker's "Study Canyon" in the San Luis. 

On the way, we found:

1 Thamnophis cyrtopsis

1 Terrepene ornata

On NM 9, we found only 2 DOR Masticophis flagellum between Animas and El Paso. 

It got dark on us around Sierra Blanca.  We hunted the frontage road cuts at Allamore, then cruised TX 54 north of Van Horn and found:

1 Hypsiglena torquata

1 Crotalus scutulatus

Decided that we'd go ahead and cruise down through the Davis Mts to Norman Nunley's house . . . expected to find a few snakes since they seemed to be moving a bit here . . . but found only 1 DOR Rhinocheilus lecontei and some toads (the ones I stopped for were Bufo punctatus and Scaphiopus couchi).

7-8(am) August 2002

We stayed the day at the Nunley's . . . with Donna babysitting for Cheyenne, Marla & I decided to hunt Black Gap.  It had rained a bit at miles 7-9 up from La Linda, but there was little wind.  We found:

1 Crotalus atrox (had been hit) on 385 south of Marathon

on fm 2627:

3 Crotalus scutulatus

2 Crotalus molossus

1 Elaphe (ok, Bogertophis) subocularis

2 Hypsiglena torquata

2 Gyalopion canum

1 Rhinocheilus lecontei

1 unid snake

sev Cophosaurus texanus

1 Coleonyx brevis

1 Sceloporus poinsetti

many toads, including at least (ones I stopped for) Scaphiopus multiplicata and Bufo speciosus

on 385 south of Marathon:

2 Crotalus atrox (1 DOR)

2 Crotalus scutulatus DOR

1 Hypsiglena torquata

on US 90 west of Marathon:

1 Lampropeltis getula

1 Arizona elegans DOR

8-9(am) August 2002

Hung around Norman's all day - found a nice big Phrynosoma cornutum and several Cnemidophorus gularis in the yard. 

Again Donna baby-sat for us.  Decided to hunt the River Road this night.  Got a late start, and on the way down saw bats emerging from under a bridge in front of Elephant Mountain.  By the time I got turned around, the bat flight had dwindled from a cloud to a trickle.  Herp-wise, found:

on 118, south of Alpine:

1 Crotalus scutulatus DOR

on FM 170:

1 Arizona elegans

2 Sonora semiannulata

6 Hypsiglena torquata

2 Elaphe (ok, Bogertophis) subocularis

7 Crotalus atrox

1 Coleonyx reticulatus

sev Coleonyx brevis

sev Cophosaurus texanus

on TX 118, Xmas Mts:

1 Crotalus molossus

1 Hypsiglena torquata DOR

on TX 118, south of Alpine

1 Pituophis catenifer

1 Crotalus scutulatus

Also saw several Scaphiopus couchi on 118 in the flats.

9 August 2002

Marla decided that she wanted to go ahead and head home so we'd have a full day to unwind between travel and work starting, so we packed up to head home.  Drove over to Ray's to pick up my mouse order and saw a Cnemidophorus exsanguis in the yard.

Robert came over and we photographed the splendida . . . saw a juv Cnemidophorus inornatus in Norman's yard.

Drove home across the most beautiful part of Texas . . . the Permian Basin (yawn).