The Salamander Night Hike

Slimy salamander, the only one we saw that evening. Photo by Jess Daddio.

The salamander night hike was led by Billy Flint at JMU and provided a really great opportunity to get in the field with the leading expert on Cow Knob salamanders, which only live here on the high-elevation slopes of the Shenandoah and Great North mountains. We met at 9pm under a perfectly clear starlit sky, donned our headlamps, and took our time carefully walking among the leaf litter and talus slopes. It took about 20 minutes until someone’s headlamps reflected back off the eyes of the first salamander of the evening, a Shenandoah Mountain salamander. Once we knew what we were looking for, it became easier to spot the next salamanders, which were sometimes crawling about in the open but, more often, lay hidden in the mossy recesses of their rock homes. Part educational hike, part meditative forest walk, the outing was equal parts discussion and silence. I really enjoyed the opportunity to move quietly through the woods and to ask questions in real time.

Jess Daddio, Cohort 9