Banana slugs are bright colored and weird and snotty and awesome. Well…with one exception. When you decide to go on a Russian Gulch (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=432) fern canyon/waterfall hike a little late in the day on a short winter day without a flashlight. It appears that b.slugs, we are friends we can call them that, like to come out at night in massive quantities. Their seemingly bright colors are totally impossible to see in the dark. For about the last 45 minutes of our walk we were white knuckling the fact every single step we took might squash one of these unseen glorious creatures. As someone who doesn’t even particularly care to squash spiders you can imagine my dismay. I checked my shoes at the car and they weren’t slimed! I’ll take that as all the evidence I need to prove no slugs were harmed in the making of this post. At least that’s what I am telling myself.