OMG you hit the holy grail with that melanistic northwestern. I found two in the same area near me years ago and didn't think much of it at the time and I let them go. Now that area has been destroyed and I've been searching for a melanistic one ever since. What a lucky find!

Not surprising your pugets don't look like the ones found in the hobby. As I've been saying all along, the stunning blue ones only occur at the southern extreme of the Puget sound. (Olympia, Ft. Lewis area) Go north toward seattle and they turn sort of greenish/white. Everywhere else they look like yours, or are red phase pugets.

Your habitat pics are exactly the kind of places I find northwesterns and alligator lizards, and if it's very close to water, also find T.s. concinnus'.

Sounds like a great day of herping. Great pics!