We gathered the newbies for this trip, with one goal: to get people salamander-pilled.

The plan is to meet up with B and K with their new friend M.L. for her second ever herping trip. M.L. was already falling in love with it. Her FIRST trip ever, she found an eastern hognose. I was bringing S with me for her herping debut. I had been trying for what seemed like ages to get her out with no success so this trip needed to deliver.

The weather was HOT and dry. Not the greatest combo for most salamanders.

S and I arrived early and hit up the newt spot. Walking through tick heaven, we found the shores of the famed pond and... nothing.

What. The. Hell.

I have never had a hard time finding them here. I was starting to panic until, even though there was plenty of sunlight, we shined a flashlight into the water and saw those little eyes looking back at us. That first find of the day, crisis averted. 

After seeing 3 or 4 more with their little heads sticking out of the water, we took another trip through tick city to poke around for some snakes. 

S pointed at a small stream feeding out of the pond and asked, 

"Do you think there are any in there?"

In which I confidently responded, "nah, the water looks like it's moving too quickly."

We walked over and I was proven immediately wrong. 10 to 15 newts were sitting open in the water. An awesome find. When they would swim away, a small trail of silt would follow behind them. I could have sat for hours watching them dart around.

After some casual rock flipping and finding some beautiful duskies, it was time to find the rest of the crew. The sun was starting to set and we realized we had to make a quick detor to the overlook.

This is when the trip took a turn. 

While looking out at the forest landscape, farms dotting into the distance, a small black cat started loudly calling from the woods. S has always been an animal lover, constantly fostering kittens and puppies. Almost any time I would visit her place, a new batch would be calling their small apartment home temporarily. 

The kittens' calls couldn't be ignored. 

She spent what felt like forever gaining its trust, slowly giving it pets and looking for packets of spare tuna. We were going back and forth on what happens when we actually catch this thing? Eventually, I was in the driver seat. S opened the passenger door… the cat hesitated, then jumped in. 

We locked eyes. There was a pause. Then absolute chaos. 

The cat took off like a firework launching off the seats, claws slashing my lap, slamming into the windshield, skidding across the dash, and rocketing out the open door. Later, I had learned that S had considered closing the door, Im eternally grateful she didn’t 

We all agreed, there is no way to safely capture this cat today. So we started back on the salamander trip, unfortunately, a little too late as a text hit my phone

Welp, we missed them. That's not going to stop us; if anything, we know for certain that we are hitting a good spot now.

Armed with our flashlights, we took off into the woods. Some fantastic finds including plenty of pigeon mountain salamanders, a cave salamander, a couple of assorted desmognathids, and a stunning little toad. A tree crashing down in the distance reminded us it was time to leave. A stunning jack-in-the-pulpit was the perfect way to end the night. 

One of the more memerable trips I have been on. Im incredibly grateful that we were able to have a fantastic trip for both of the newbies and heres to hoping that they are hooked for good.