Admiring critters in Catalina State Park; Colossal Cave

Jerry, our next door neighbour, is a herpetologist (a snake expert) or as Patty told us - he loves his critters. I always took critters to mean all living creatures, and maybe it does but, reading between the lines here, critters seem to mean reptiles - snakes, lizards, scorpions etc. Anyway, Jerry and his critters friends (both human and slithering or crawling) were due to be in Catalina State Park today from 9 am to 12pm so we went up to see. A journey of about 10 to 15 minutes took over 40 because Nuvi was in one of her moods and determined to bring us shortcuts that involved unpaved roads. Jim was having none of that so did a few u turns to take a more conventional approach. Again beautiful scenery - the Santa Catalinas are spectacular! While admiring (not sure if that is the right word) the critters, Jim told Jerry about the snake that we had encountered in Tubac and went to get his camera to show if so that he could identify it. Jerry and his mates got very excited as it was not readily identifiable - there was talk of a King snake (which it was of course in the sense that it was a King who had spotted it!), a longnose snake or possibly a hybrid. I knew it was a snake! The book was taken out and various features examined but no conclusion was reached. Further investigations will follow this evening when Jerry uploads the photo to get a closer look. I think Jim felt like a great explorer! Below is a reminder of the snake:

At least we learned that the only snakes in this area that we need fear are the rattlesnakes and from the sound of the rattle of one big specimen they can make their presence felt! There was a Gila Monster, a species of venomous lizard native to the southwest. They are protected by state law in Arizona because their numbers have dwindled.

Jim couldn't gat any pictures of the snakes because of the way the light was shining.

Views from the car park don't do the Catalinas justice.

We went on from there to Colossal Cave State Park. The Cave was a cave and it was colossal! No photos of it. It is in a similar setting to the Saguaro National Park so it is very beautiful. There were a group of young teenagers there going on the tour who, while they waited, managed to flood the Men's toilets by putting tissue in the sink and leaving the water running! They also broke a water fountain. My teacher persona was in danger of emerging!

An Illegal Still

i don't think Nuvi is vey happy today because Jim has offended her by doing his own thing. On the way back from Colossal Cave, instead of acceding to Nuvi's wishes and heading to the motorway, Jim insisted on driving on the Old Spanish Trail, a much more relaxing and scenic drive. We had the Tanque Verde Ridge to our right with the Rincon Mountains in the background. Lovely!

Our snake has been identified as a Sonoran Coachwhip Red/Black Morph! And Jerry has given us a blown up photo of it that we can frame!!