I spend most of my time herping in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties in NW California.

Concinnusman ain't joking about T. ordinoides variation. The Northwesterns in Northern Humboldt are really dull, whereas the ones in Del Norte County come in yellow stripe, white-stripe, orange-stripe, peach-stripe, red-stripe; with black, brown, gray, red, and burgundy backgrounds; with or without patterns or stripes; and with or without red or orange dorsal and/or ventral flecking. Many also mimic the patterns and colors of local T. elegans and T. a. hydrophilus. I hear you get blues further north...

Also, we have various morphs of the Mountain and Coast Garter clade (T. e. terrestris has been absorbed into the T. e. elegans sub-special clade, but at present, the Humboldt sample is still anomalous.)

Additionally, Northern Humboldt is in an intergrade zone between T. s. infernalis and T. s. fitchi.

Forty-five minutes inland, we have the Oregon Garter (T. a. hydrophilus.)

Other herps found throughout the many habitats of this bioregion include:

Northwestern Ring-necked Snake
California Kingsnake
California Mountain Kingsnake
Pacific Gopher Snake
Northern Pacific Rattlesnake
Rubber Boa
Sharp-tailed Snake
Western Yellow-bellied Racer

Northwestern Fence Lizard
Northern Sagebrush Lizard
Oregon Alligator Lizard (ssp of E. multicarinata)
Shasta Alligator Lizard & Northwestern Alligator Lizard (ssp of E. coerulea)
Skilton Skink

You can go to HumboldtHerps.com (Natives) for the list on amphibians...

April and May are the hot months for sightings, but you can see kings, gophers, racers, and rattlers active into summer, especially near shaded watersheds during the day, and out and about in the morning and early evening. Oregon Garters are active all summer long. Valley Garters are summer-active only in the upper mountain lakes and ponds. Rubber Boas, Ring-necks, and Sharp-tails are best found in April and October.