OR Hillsboro Parks

[+YankeeRage]

http://www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/ParksRec/ParksFacilities/Parks.asp

 

List of the City parks, some have maps, descriptions and other feature lists.

 

As *several* cache's are placed in these parks, thought this might be a help.

 

 

[possible spoiler for a puzzle cache ]

 

 

Also, we spotted a poisonous newt in the Rood Bridge Park. Don't let your children or pets touch. This is something that can and needs to be washed off before touching your eyes, or eating.

Probably in the same way that Posion Ivy/Oak needs to be avoided.

[+Team JOYSON]

How do you tell the difference between a poinsonous and non-poisonous newt?

 

(I know what you're thinking... "wait, I've heard this one before"... but seriously)

 

The one in the picture looks the same as any other newt/salamander that I've played with and tortured since I was a kid.

 

"And then Trogdor smote the Kerrek, and all was laid to burnination."

 

[This message was edited by Team JOYSON on June 10, 2003 at 02:29 PM.]

[+Boojum]

quote:

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Originally posted by Team JOYSON:

 

The one in the picture looks the same as any other newt/salamander that I've played and tortured since I was a kid.

 

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How do you play a salamander? Like a wind instrument? Percussion? Accordion? That would certainly torture them!

[+Team JOYSON]

What? Didn't anyone ever show you? It's the coolest thing! If you wrap your lips around theirs and blow they make this funny squeeky/whistling sound! Kinda like a kazoo. Just try it... It's also kinda funny the way they puff up & inflate like that.

 

"And then Trogdor smote the Kerrek, and all was laid to burnination."

 

[This message was edited by Team JOYSON on June 10, 2003 at 02:37 PM.]

[+GeoNap]

And for my next trick... I am going to 'play this rattlesnake'

 

Look how angry he gets when I poke him with a stick... wow what a cool rattle noise... I think he likes me.

[+evergreenhiker!]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Team JOYSON:

How do you tell the difference between a poinsonous and non-poisonous newt?

 

(I know what you're thinking... "wait, I've heard this one before"... but seriously)

 

The one in the picture looks the same as any other newt/salamander that I've played with and tortured since I was a kid.

 

_"And then Trogdor smote the Kerrek, and all was laid to burnination."_

 

[This message was edited by Team JOYSON on June 10, 2003 at 02:29 PM.]

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This isn't a light matter. Just a little bit of the poison can kill you! This newt is quite common in the northwest...especially up in the mountains in lakes and rivers.

 

They are just a few inches long with rough brown skin and their belly is bright orange. If you hold one close, you can smell the poison. When they are disturbed, they secret it through their skin.

 

Newts tend to live in water most of the time, but they will go through a yearly migration thing related to mating I think and will be on land. But most of the time they will be in water or right next to it.

 

We have one other water-dwelling creature...the mudpuppy. This guy can grow up to 12 inches long and has a smooth/slimy brownish skin with a lighter, almost brown/grayish belly. It's gills are visible if in water. They are harmless.

 

Salamanders and newts are different. Salamanders live on land and only go in water to breed. We have a few common species ranging from just a few inches to the Giant Pacific species which can be a foot long. These guys usually live in moist, woody areas. You might have some in your yard if you have an old wood pile in shade. Like the mudpuppy, salamanders typically have very smooth skin.

 

The newt above is teh exception with it's rough skin. Not a common characteristic at all so it can be identified quite easily and you throw in the orange belly, it's a slam dunk!

[+Navdog]

Excerpts from a recent article in the Seattle Times about rough skinned newts:

 

It's hard to imagine this sweet-looking creature with the face of E.T. is 10,000 times more toxic than a slug of cyanide, but so it is.

 

The orange-bellied, rough-skinned newt is one of the most poisonous creatures going. The merest bite creates a severe burning sensation in the mouth.

 

Every known mammal spits them out instantly — except men in bars who have been drinking heavily. A 29-year-old from Oregon went into a bar July 9, 1979, and, on a bet, swallowed a rough-skinned newt. He was dead before the day was out.

No known antidote exists for a newt's poison, packed by both juveniles and adults in glands in their skin, and even their eggs. The poison is tetrodotoxin, or TTX, and is found in Japanese puffer fish and some species of South American frogs.

Taricha granulosa, not surprisingly, have no predators, but the common garter snake is immune to their poison. The newt's deadliest foe is the automobile.

 

Newts are slaughtered every spring as they cross roads to head to their breeding ponds. Habitat destruction is also doing them in. Washington's amphibians are actually in greater peril than those in any state except California, Oregon and Nevada. Here, 32 percent of the state's amphibian species are at risk, a recent Nature Conservancy study found.

Rough-skinned-newt populations are an exception, so far. They are among the five most-common amphibians in Washington, and also one of the easiest to find and identify. Up to 8 inches long, and lizardlike in appearance, newts could pass for baby dinosaurs with their rugged, grainy skin, and brontosauruslike body.

They are the only salamander that is active above ground, out in the open and during the day — and slow-footed to boot. Why not, when you are poison-packed?

 

Rough-skinned newts hunt their food, walking the forest floor and wagging their heads from side to side in search of snails, small slugs, insects and other invertebrates, which they bag with their sticky tongues.

 

Virginia rails and blackbirds that share the boggy realm of the newt don't even come near as the newts swagger about on land, with their all-terrain, hand over hand, four-wheel amphibian drive. Eat one, and those birds would be dead in 10 minutes.

 

Scientists have exhaustively examined the newt's astounding toxicity, learning by force-feeding macerated newt skin to various animals that a single newt contains enough neurotoxin to keel over 1,500 white mice.

Scientists have tested 30 potential predators of newts, from belted kingfishers to great blue herons to bullfrogs and fish, finding in every case that the newt killed them. Sometimes the newt crawled unharmed out of the gasping mouth of the deceased within minutes of being swallowed.

 

A sample of the poison had lost none of its potency when examined 11 months after storage.

Rough-skinned newts are common from the Coast Range near San Francisco through the entire west side of Washington all the way to Southeast Alaska. They are found as far east in Washington as Klickitat County. They are one of the most common amphibians in Western Washington, along with Pacific tree frogs, red-legged frogs and long-toed salamanders.

Handling them is a treat: They have soft, smooth skin, sweet faces and delicate, grasping arms and toes. It's OK to pick them up, but don't mistakenly brush your fingers to your lips or mouth until you wash your hands thoroughly.

 

Light as a ballpoint pen, a newt will rest in the palm, climbing with its forearms up to the index finger to have a look around. Look it in the eye, and the newt stares right back with a wise expression, not seeming a bit worried. Placed back on the ground, it walks off sedately, with a one-bite-and-you're-dead strut.

 

If startled, newts will sometimes display a so-called unken reflex: They shut their eyes and arch their back and tail upward to display a cantaloupe-orange belly. It's a warning to a potential predator of the newt's toxicity: The combination of a dark-brown, almost-black back and orange belly is a well-known Mr. Yuk sign in nature.

 

For all their toxicity, their appeal is undeniable.

 

The adventures of Navdog, Justdog, and Otterpup

[+Gloom]

quote:

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Newts are slaughtered every spring as they cross roads ...

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Holy Sensationalism Batman!

 

Geez, they make it sound like there's a bunch of people out there who intentionally drive around just to run over the newts.

 

----

Never let Common Sense Get in the Way of Determination.

[+YankeeRage]

I contacted the Hillsboro Parks department, they are posting 'warning' signs. But as these are new parks those might take a while.

 

They are also rightly concerned about not posting something that will have people running out and killing the creatures, or being panic'd.

 

If you have a suggestion for them, or want to help, they seemed very easy to work with.

 

I did find this one with-in a few feet of a cache. The newt was on the paved trail.

[+Navdog]

quote:

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Originally posted by YankeeRage:

I contacted the Hillsboro Parks department, they are posting 'warning' signs. But as these are new parks those might take a while.

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So, will the new signs also have warnings about :

 

Mosquitos with the West Nile Virus.

 

Ticks and Lyme Disease.

 

Slipping hazards from slimy slugs on the trails.

 

Caution about overly agressive geese that may bite you in the crotch if you run out of bread crumbs.

 

And here I thought The Pacific Northwest was one of the safest placed to wander around in the outdoors.

 

The adventures of Navdog, Justdog, and Otterpup

[+dasein]

quote:

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Originally posted by Gloom:

Holy Sensationalism Batman!

 

Geez, they make it sound like there's a bunch of people out there who intentionally drive around just to run over the newts.

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Last weekend we found 3 Pools cache. There were many salamanders (or were they the newts?) crossing the trail. Doug was walking behind me and pointed out several times that I nearly stepped on one; oh horrors! How can one keep your eyes steadily on the trail below/ahead of you when the surrounding scenery is so beautiful?

 

Temporarily French Polynesia's most prolific geocachers!