Muse back!
May 24, 2008 / Saturday
Newtmania!
Woke up at 7 this morning to go for a hike at Sanborn-Skyline County Park with Aaron's friend Esther and her husband Loren, who are joining us up Mt. Whitney in July. 7 is early for me, but 4:30 is even earlier, and since that's when we're going to have to start the hike up Whitney, we might as well get some practice hiking in the morning.
I brought my poles, which were once again totally awesome on the uphill. I found them pretty useful on the downhill, too, once I figured out how I wanted to use them. The only downside is that they got a fair amount of exposure to trailside poison oak, so I have to be pretty careful with them. I don't know if I'm sensitive to urushiol, but Aaron is, so I guess I won't be jabbing him with the poles anytime soon.
Speaking of poison, we encountered quite a few newts on the trail, which I didn't know were poisonous until I got home and looked them up. Honestly, I thought they were cute, and even wondered if I could take one home as a pet. I tried to pet one, but my finger was numb from the cold, so it didn't feel like anything. Aaron tried to pick one up later on, and said it felt like a cold gummy bear. At least it felt like something; as it turns out, their skin secretes tetrodotoxin, that deadly pufferfish toxin that makes you numb in small doses and kills you at higher ones. Tetrodotoxin, at our local parks! Craziness.
As with the banana slugs at Portola Redwoods back in December, I decided to name each newt we encountered. The list is as follows:
- Crawly - I saw a newt. It crawled.
- Slow Poke - I saw another newt. It crawled slowly.
- Swimmer - Esther noted how it moved like it was swimming in slow motion.
- Stealth - I passed by it, stopped, turned around, and there it was, in the middle of the trail.
- Chicken - Why did the newt cross the road? Because it was a chicken!
- Newton - Newton the newt! Loren came up with this one.
- Roadblock - It just stood there in the middle of the trail. If we'd stepped on it I'd have named it Speedbump.
- Sienna - It was dark, like burnt sienna.
- Isaac - Sir Isaac Newt. Loren came up with this one too.
- Gordo - This newt was fat!
- Chocolate - Named for its color.
- Scramble - It was scrambling to get off the trail.
- Statue - It stood there totally still. This is the one I tried to pet.
- Burger - I didn't see it and accidentally flipped it with my pole. Aaron then tried to pick it up. Woops.
Speaking of burgers, we had lunch at Kirk's Steakburgers afterward, and finished early enough to go on another hike on our usual afternoon schedule.
Instead, we went home, where I am now battling the urge to nap. I can't nap; the sun is out! Daylight's a wastin'!
Here's Swimmer, doing the crawl:
