The Lizard Whisperer

Nick and I were in Petaluma last weekend. On Sunday, we went for a little adventure trip to Napa Valley and the Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. We were going to get burgers at a place called "Taylors" in St. Helena, but the line was longer than the wait to get tickets to Indiana Jones, so we went down the street to A&W/KFC and got a burger in 5 minutes! Then we drove over to the Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, just North of Sonoma. We found a nice trail to go hiking on and set-out for some adventure (not really). It was a nice hike up a trail towards Bald Mt. Here's some scenery -

We saw a deer -

We saw many lizards as we hiked along. On the way back down, I came across a particular lizard hiding along the trail. His camoflauge hid him perfectly in the dry weeds. But I was able to feel his presence with my lizard sense...

I slowly moved closer to get a better picture. As I moved in, he made no attempt to run away. I thought I would test his resolve and see if I could put my hand next to him, he still layed motionless in the grass. I thought I'd see if I could touch him, and low and behold, he layed still as I stroked his tiny little back. I called ahead to Nick, "hey come check this out!" As Nick came over, I thought I'd see if I could pick him up. I went to reach under his little lizard belly, when he made a dash through the sticks, over next to my foot. As I stood up, he jumped up onto my leg!

I had made a friend! Did he want to come home with me? Or was he just looking for a free ride down to the parking lot where he might find some little Triscut bits left behind by snacking hikers? Perhaps it was my gentle lizard whisper as I scratched his back and became one with his little lizard spirit... the force is strong with this one...

I reached down to touch him and he ran around my leg and jumped onto my other leg. I started to get a little leary that he might run up my pants and crawl under my shirt, and as if on queue, he ran down and jumped back into the grass and rustled away with the wind...

A chance encounter with a lizard? A brave adventurous lizard? A lizard whisperer and his small reptilian friend, you be the judge.