Birthday Hike

(**Note, I started writing this yesterday on 1/26, which was my birthday**)

So for my birthday I went on a quest. This quest was to find the elusive tiger salamander with one of my herpetologist friends. According to this friend's research, the best place to find these salamanders is in Hoke County, which is about 2 hours south of where I live. However, last night we were hit by a mild ice storm (although by North Carolina standards it may as well have been the armageddon). I jokingly asked my friend if salamanders like the snow, and he said that there probably wouldn't be snow since we were going to go two hours South...I didn't quite believe him so I looked up the weather online. The weather according to last night's forecast was supposed to be sunny and 55º. I should know better than to trust weatherman. After years of going to school despite forecasts of severe snow, I should just know better. Because today was actually 30º and cloudy. Even two hours south.

The first part of the day was spent trailblazing through forest. I wore only a light jacket and pants because I stupidly trusted the weatherman. I was cold. The temperature slowly climbed its way up to 32º, just enough to make all the ice coating the branches of the trees melt and fall like rain on us for the rest of the morning. So then I was cold and wet. Also, it appears that the salamanders were more intelligent than us because we could not find any. In fact, it seems as if most of the wildlife was smarter than us because we did not see a living creature the whole time. I don't blame them. I also have a newfound appreciation for those pioneers who bushwhacked their way through untamed America. They must have gotten a lot of wet socks and prickly bushes stuck to their pants, because I sure did and I was only there for about 2 hours. But I don't want to give the wrong impression. I still had a grand old time regardless of the cold/dripping weather and the lack of an appropriate attire.

After thawing out in the car for a few minutes, we decided to go investigate the All American Trail, which is located around Fort Bragg. My favorite part about the All American Trail is that it is, in fact, a trail. No bushwhacking required. Also, the sun finally decided to emerge from hiding, which was nice of it. We actually saw some actual wildlife there as well in the form of a variety of birds. The ones that deserve the most attention are the Eastern Bluebirds, because they were so pretty and I had never seen these birds before. So feast your eyes: