Butano State Park

Today we explored Butano State Park near Pescadero, CA.  Matt predicted in the car that we could see 13 banana slugs, a fairly high number compared to the other hikes we've been on recently.  After 10 minutes of hiking and counting, we quickly spotted lucky number 13, so Matt revised his estimate to 50.  When we spotted our 50th not long after that, he revised the estimate to 100, as a joke.  Then he had to re-revise to 200, as a joke.  And then to 400 slugs, also as a joke.  On our 3 hour hike, the final count came in at a whopping 436 banana slugs!!  At certain spots, there were so many banana slugs that we were calling them off by the second.  We also spotted 11 rough-skinned California newts (less impressive than 436, but still a lot of newts). The hike itself was absolutely beautiful -- lots of mossy redwoods and picturesque views along Butano Creek.  The park was almost all ours today, making the hike that much more enjoyable.  We plan on going back as soon as possible for more hiking and camping.