Whenever weather allows (and even when it doesn't) we spend time outdoors. This outing included a lot of 4-wheeling and also some good nature finds. The snake pictured is a Night Snake and is not so common to find in this valley. We rode over the mountains west of Santequin and found a cool canyon. After crossing a creek and climbing a hill, I stopped to flip some rocks. I am always looking for snakes and herps and my brothers decided to flip a few as well. One of my brothers flipped 5 or 6 rocks before finding the Night Snake (beginner's luck). The snake was photoed and released. I usually don't photo toads, but they are getting pretty hard to find in Utah County. The pics don't show it well, but the Northern Side-blotched Lizards that we caught had a lot of blue specks on their backs. Also, the grasshoppers in one area looked like an explosion of blue when they hopped and flew. I caught some to photo their blue wings. The photo of the bee on the flower was just me practicing photography while catching some of the beauty in the desert.
