Wow, huge thanks everyone for all these lovely comments! We indeed had an amazing three weeks there and we would have wanted to stay longer for sure! Herping was hard and I was amazed by the sheer number of species we found along the way. I can imagine these places must be heaven in early spring. *thinking of a magical Giant Salamander evening like we have here in Europe with Fire Salamanders
* In general I thought it was way easier to spot wildlife than here in Europe with deer and skunks just next to the tent, whales, elephant seals and sea otters easily spotted from random coastal lookouts, walking into a bear and seeing several small mammalians on the road in the desert.
Paul, we had to google the Betamax...
Thomas, would love to! Thanks for the invitation and would be more than happy to give a presentation about our adventure. Really loved it this year!
Jeroen, eventough we were in the range for at least one Hydromantes species, we did not spend (and possibly waste) a lot of time trying to find them. Afterwards I learned of a nice waterfall that holds a decent population of Cope's Giant Salamander and lots of Torrent Salamanders in summer. On top of that; someone who found a Three-horned Chameleon in his garden in Morro Bay as recent as this year. Torment