Bufo americanus:
After greeting each other and exchanging thoughts on how best to spend the day, Jim and I drove to our trailhead and
began our walk. We
had planned to hike a fairly aggressive trail high into the mountains to seek the only population of
Sarracenia purpurea var. montana known in South Carolina.
We were only
30 minutes into our hike when Jim decided that he didn't feel up to continuing on the trail
at our vigorous pace. He had just gotten over a really bad flu and was still weak.
I floated the notion of continuing at a much slower rate, but he felt he might not be up to even that.
So, after much discussion we agreed that it was best that I simply continue on the trail without him.
Jim's plan was to slowly pick his way along the trail until he felt it was prudent to stop and return to the cars.
The trail ahead was a bit tricky to follow in spots, so I recounted for him what he should expect and look for (should he
decide to continue), and then I resumed my hike alone.
Bummed, I proceeded on the trail, keeping an eye on my progress to make sure I did wander off course.
An hour or so later along the hike I found the nice American toad shown above. Photographing it gave me a chance to
catch my breath. Here
is a more distant view and
a mid range view of the critter.
Long stretches of the hike were steep inclines, and I was confident that Jim would not have been able to complete those
parts of the trail in his post-flu condition.
