We watched this snake by flashlight for quite awhile as it explored the bushes and rocks near the side of the road. It seemed completely disinterested in the four of us watching it, even when it tasted our shoes with its tongue.

I set out this day hoping to find an adult Blainville's Horned Lizard, following directions from a correspondent who had recently seen one there. I saw no horned lizards, but I found three adult kingsnakes instead. One (not pictured here) was slithering across the trail into bushes; another (first picture above) was foraging around a partly collapsed abandoned building; the last (second picture above) was slooooowly making its way across an open field. Kingsnake bonanza!

This large kingsnake was coiled up tightly just off the Cerro Alto trail. It was perhaps six feet long, but I didn't disturb its beauty rest for a measurement.

This large and handsome snake was coiled in the underbrush along the side of a boardwalk trail a few dozen yards from Bodie Island Lighthouse. After I got some initial poor in situ photos, I tried to coax it out into the open. It was thoroughly uninterested in that plan, and quickly slithered under the boardwalk and out of sight. This lame photo is the best one I came away with.

Thanks to Brian Hubbs for pointing out that I had misclassified this individual as a member of the extremely-questionable-at-best subspecies sticticeps. It seems that even the people who still recognize that variety don't think that it lives as far north as Bodie Island.

My friend Roger Repp and I saw this snake as it was crossing a road on which we had earlier seen a Western Patch-nosed Snake, a Gila Monster, and a Sonoran Gophersnake.

This individual shows some characteristics of L. g. splendida and some characteristics of L. g. californiae. It is probably an intergrade between these two subspecies.