Although I’m not really that great at it, I do love macro photography. And for whatever reason, I get pretty excited any time I spot a banana slug — now formally designated California’s Official State Slug — along the California coast in Sonoma or Mendocino counties. I had always assumed this was a normal reaction until my most recent trip; I was near the end of the Jug Handle Ecological Staircase Trail and had stopped to photograph a slug when a few other people walked by. “It’s a banana slug!” I informed them enthusiastically — and they basically responded with “Huh,” and kept going. Given that reaction, I wasn’t about to let them in on the fact that I had stumbled upon what I considered the “mother lode” further back along the trail: more slugs in one small area than I had ever seen in my life. I honestly don’t understand the lack of interest, but rather than getting depressed about it, I count myself lucky, knowing that those poor folks have no idea how badly they missed out on these cute little guys, and so many other amazing and tiny details of the Mendocino rainforest.

Scotch broom

Pearly everlasting