I spent several summers surveying wildlife in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Living out of a tent in Yosemite National Park or nearby, these mountains became both my office and home for three months of each year. Although they do not support the diversity of amphibians and reptiles that the tropics do, the species that do live up so high are unquestionably cool. The photos below are from these summers in California, mostly in the area around Yosemite but also in the foothills and some other areas surveyed further afar.