So I've made it a mission to start hiking more often..at least 2-3 times a week. I lose interest in actual gyms though because..well, its boring. For me, hiking is more..personal. I get to go out in the wild..look at wildlife, occassionally catch things, and take tons of photographs. So, this will be my exercise routine.

I got out a bit later today because I couldn't find anyone who wanted to hike with me (because I also do a bit of 'field herping' (reptile searches), I prefer to go with other people for saftey)..but when I did, we met up around 1:30 at a nearby nature trail/boardwalk. Before I even got there, a buddy of mine called to tell me he had found a wild florida softshell by the entrance. When I got there, the poor thing (see picture) was horribly dried out and not very active. So we decided to try to find a decent water source to release him in.

He has a HUGE neck and the reason I know this is because I poured some bottled water (warm) on him to help get rid of his dryness. He got active immediately. if he wanted, he could have reached around and bit my fingers.

Anyways, we hit the boardwalk and ended up finding another entrance to the walk that let us get off and go up to the water. We managed to release him in some water with some minnows..and immediately he decided to bury himself in the mud. A friend of mine looked around a bit and then found a box turtle. We also saw some other wild water turtles (too far to get good shots), some lizards, and some spanish mallards. I'll upload photo's of them too.

So yeah, expect more photography from me from my hiking excursions. This is the first one, first wildcaught softshell. AIN'T HE CUTE!?!?!