We've been planning our fall trip to Snake Road since our trip there in the spring. This would be our third trip to the road in two years. The past two times we had missed the majority of the snakes moving, so we went a little earlier this year. We kept watching the weather and it was looking good.
For those who don't know, "Snake Road," as it is affectionately called by herpers, is a three mile stretch of road in southern Illinois that separates a swampy area from a 300 foot rocky cliff. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources closes the road twice a year. They close it from March 15 - May 15 to allow snakes to safely leave their hibernacula in the cliffs and move to the swamp and woods. They close it again from September 1 - October 31 to allow the snakes to move safely back to the cliff where they will spend the winter hibernating in dens in the rock. This makes this three mile stretch of road one of the most famous areas among herpers in the United States. In fact, of all the people that we met while there, we had driven the least amount; 4 hours. There people from Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia and Canada.
Jenna and I both got off work at 11:00 a.m. I had the truck pretty much packed by the time she got home and we were on the road before noon. We were meeting Andy there. Due to the government shutdown, he was in DeSoto working since he was furloughed from his federal job. Andy got to the campground about 45 minutes before we did. I'm glad he did, because there was only one spot left with a fire area and picnic table. We got there and sat up our tents. It wasn't even 4:00 so we decided to go herping; I mean, that's why we were there, so why not?
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| A Sasquatch family welcomes to Grand Tower, IL |
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| Our campsite on the Mississippi River |
It was only about 10 minutes from our campground to Snake Road. We hadn't been on the road very long when Jenna spotted our first herp of the trip; and a lifer at that.
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| Bird-voiced Tree Frog (Hyla avivoca) |
We walked for a while and caught up to three guys from Michigan with whom we walked for the next hour. Along the way we found several species.
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| Black Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoleta) |
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| Central Newt (Notophthalmus viridens louisianensis) |
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| Western Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis proximus) |
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| Yellow-bellied Watersnake (Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster) |
The second ratsnake of the night finally gave me a chance to get a picture I've always want to try and get.
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| Black Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoleta) |
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| Black Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoleta) |
It was getting pretty dark; dark enough that we were starting to use flashlights. The three of us just had tennis shoes and shorts on, so we were sticking to the road. One of the Michigan guys kept stepping off the road every now and then to look at the base of the cliff. We were all just kind of talking and halfway watching where we stepped when he yelled, "Rattlesnake!" We moved though the brush as quickly as we could while making sure we didn't step on one of the cottonmouths that are abundant in the area. At first all we could see was it's tail.
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| Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) |
After a few seconds of staring, we saw where it's head was coming out of the rocks. What a beautiful lifer for both Jenna and I!!!! I've only been looking for this snake for 5 years.
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| Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) |
Walking down the road on the way back, I saw something jump that looked different than the hundreds of cricket frogs and leopard frogs. Jenna had another lifer.
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| Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea) |
We saw a few more species on the way back, but I only got a picture of a couple. In the 3 hours on the road that evening, we had 14 species of herps. I was feeling pretty good about our weekend already, and it was just starting.
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| Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus) |
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| Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae) |
We started pretty early the next morning. It was pretty cool, so we resorted to flipping. Several Northern Slimy Salamanders were discovered; also a lifer.
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| Northern Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus) |
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| Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) |
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| Long-tailed Salamander (Eurycea longicauda) |
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| Long-tailed Salamander (Eurycea longicauda) |
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| Western Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma) |
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| Northern Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata) |
Andy had to meet Anna at the campsite at 10:00. It was thundering in the distance, so Jenna and I decided to head back to camp and put the canopy over our tent before the rain arrived. It wasn't supposed to rain until 4:00 p.m. We made it back to camp just as the sky let loose. We put the canopy over the tent and Anna got there, so we headed back to the road. The rain let up to just a little mist. We had no phone reception, so we had no view of the radar. We knew that once the rain stopped, it was supposed to be done. We decided to start from the South end of the road. A lot of people were just starting onto the road from that end. We had made it a couple hundred yards when it started to POUR. We were quickly soaked and continued on. I made a quick trip back to the truck to drop my camera off, because the rain was starting to soak through my water resistant camera bag. The rain brought the salamanders out in droves, and of course I didn't have my camera. That's OK. It was actually kind of nice to walk without the extra weight and just enjoy finding things. I did manage to get a few salamander pictures after the rain let up that afternoon. Here's one of the only pictures I got of a Cave Salamander; a species that we saw probably over 30 of while it was raining.
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| Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga) |
Not very long after taking the picture above, Jenna called that she had a copperhead in the cliff. It wasn't the best view, but it was the final piece in our VENOMOUS TRIFECTA! We now had Timber Rattlesnake, Western Cottonmouth, and this copperhead, whatever subspecies it may be. Those are the only three species of venomous snake that are found in the area.
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| Copperhead subspecies (Agkistrodon contortrix) |
That night, we built a nice fire from the pine wood that dad and I cut out of Grandma's yard a couple weeks before. I've determined that a campfire from pine wood is the best. It smells good, burns good (almost too good if you want a long lasting fire), and pops and crackles beautifully.
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| Some sort of cool looking plant I haven't tried to identify |
Sunday morning we went back to the road for a while. Jenna and I split off after a while and planned on going into south Missouri to look for hognose snakes. On the way out, we met a group of Canadians that we chatted with for a bit. They had just come from a place called Heron Pond. It sounded pretty awesome and they gave us directions, so we decided to go there instead. I'm glad we did as we ended up with four lifers there. One of them was a River Cooter. I'm sure I've seen them before, but hadn't ever really took the time to ID one. After only about 15 minutes we flipped another lifer.
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| Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) |
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| Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) |
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| Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) |
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| Jenna loving the Mole Salamander |
Five more minutes passed and we flipped lifer number three for the area.
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| Jenna with a Marbled Salamander |
My favorite herp of the trip:
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| Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum) |
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| Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum) |
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| Spider spp. |
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| Jenna holding a large L. styraciflua leaf |
Another mole flipped...
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| Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) |
Right next to this smallmouth.
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| Smallmouth Salamander (Ambystoma texanum) |
Lifer number four was discovered by Jenna after I almost stepped on it.
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| Jenna holding our lifer Eastern Ribbon Snake |
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| Eastern Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus) |
I absolutely loved Heron Pond and plan to go back someday.
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| Ground Skink (Scincella lateralis) |
Since we had to drive back by within fives miles of Snake Road, we thought maybe we would give it another quick go. Boy am I glad we did. On the road just before the parking lot we got another treat!
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| Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) |
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| Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) |
Cottonmouths were out in force on Sunday.
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| Western Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma) |
As was this little brown snake. It was the most aggressive snake of the trip, biting and striking like crazy when Jenna tried to stop it from escaping the road.
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| Midland Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi wrightorum) |
Our last snake of the trip was by far the most abundant of the trip...
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| Western Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma) |
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. In fact, it was probably the best weekend of field herping that I've ever had. We ended up with 34 species of herps in just over 48 hours. Jenna got 8 life species and I ended up with 7. I'm ready to go back!
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