Helaman's Camp

The Buckeye Stake did the Senior Aaronic trip up on the rim north of Payson. These are some of my findings:

Jayden, I am sorry I did not save this bug for your collection, he would have been awesome.

I have not seen a tadpole this big in a long time. I caught him in Fossil Creek.

This grasshopper was laying her eggs right in the trail. The camera was about one inch from her and she just kept on laying...

We caught two horny toads and a common "Bernard" lizard. I put the lizard on my shoulder and he stayed there for over 4 miles of hiking and never jumped off. We let him go in camp.

This caterpillar is now in a cocoon in our horny toad cage.

Provocation of the Skink

Here is the initial provocation of a skink we encountered upon our path at Charlestowne Landing. This "Broaheaded Skink" was not friendly and could reach his neck around to bite unsuspecting victims (if you could call the aggressor a victim). His mouth is larger than any other lizard I have seen and his bite is stronger than any lizard except maybe a collared lizard.

This is a female Broadheaded Skink. Her bite was tame.
After I caught 3-4 skinks I got tired of washing my hands at Lindsay's insistence. I just took a picture of this one.

Cambria started looking for skinks too and spotted this one from atop a bridge. She was so excited. Lindsay is mad at me for teaching my girls to look for skinks.