Andrew,

It is always nice to see nature "green in tooth and claw."  We just
spent three days looking for herps south of here.  Of course I was also
looking for land shells and fossils.  But the point is we had no poison
ivy (or ticks or chiggers) but I'll match you thorn for thorn, any day.
The difference was very few of these were green.

My bruises and punctures are almost healed (time to go back) but I
wouldn't trade it for anything.  It was a great weekend.

Oh, as for snails and fossils -- none.  There were actually some nice
fossils collected by one member of the group but no one saw a snail.  We
did find, catch, measure, and log plenty of western diamondback
rattlesnakes and various other wonders of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA