I am exhausted. I just got back from a camping trip with my Amphibians field class. We camped in tents, waaaay up in the mountains with nothing but trees, dirt and a porter potty.

Overnight was the worst part. I have never been so cold camping in my entire life. My family used to go camping on the Coast and my youth group did too. It got to the mid-forties at night and I was fine in a sleeping back, sweatshirt, pajamas and socks. I dressed likewise on this camping trip and added a fleece blanket on top of my sleeping bag, and I woke up multiplie times in the night/early morning shivering uncontrollably. BRRR!!!

The best part of the trip, though, was that we were right by a mountain stream. I LOVE that sound. Waterfalls, rivers, streams--I LOVE the sound of flowing, bubbling, crashing water. And mountain streams are always so crystal clear. This stream even had a bunch of huge logs over it that you could have walked over like a bridge. It reminded me of Bridge to Terabithia. I took several pictures.

Frogs are something else! They're really cute. They're sides are so squishy--that caught me by surprise! But they don't have much in the way of a skeleton. No ribs or anything. I love holding them--but WOW, are they jumpy! They made us jumpy. If frogs ever played that hand-slapping game (where you try to hit the other person's hands before they pull them away), they would definitely win. They jump at the most unexpected times.

I touched a snake, too. This isn't Reptiles of Idaho, but we ran into (almost literally) a snake lying in the middle of a road in the desert on our first day, so we stopped to take a look. I couldn't get myself to hold it, even though they were harmless... Something about that writhing, twisting, scaly, legless body just creeps me out. One guy in our class was scared to death of snakes before coming on this trip. It was pretty hilarious because he's this tough jock dude. We couldn't even get him to touch the snake we found in the road. He finally held a snake yesterday--a Common Garter Snake. Also harmless--but quite abundant in a lake we went to. We saw at least 13 of them.

We haven't seen any salamanders yet. They're good hiders. It's too bad because they are so cute... Cuter than the frogs, definitely. :) We saw a couple in class but haven't found one adult in the wild yet. We did find some Long-Toed Salamander larvae (a.k.a. tadpoles) today. I didn't even know salamanders began as tadpoles. Shows how much I know about amphibians. :)

We have three more days left. Oh my goodness, I don't know if I'm going to make it... We spend all day long in the van on windy roads or outside in the heat rolling over rocks and fallen trees and sloshing through marshes. I need to get lots of sleep tonight in order to have enough energy for tomorrow. We're going on an overnight trip again... This time we'll be spending the night in a HOTEL. Sweeeeeeet! Showers and sinks and beds. Camping is fun--but I seriously need hot running water sometimes.

That reminds me, I need to pack my duffel bag. I've been using my backpack and it's the most obnoxious thing in the world to dig through to find stuff, especially clothes. Rawr.

Okay, I think I might go take a nap. After I eat dinner.

-Stephanie

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