What prehistoric oddity did I just pull out of my garden?

You can’t live in Colorado without knowing what the altitude is, no matter where you are. It’s a law or something.

I’m at 5,000 ft. Tomorrow I’ll be at 7,500 ft going up to 12,000 ft.

Ha. 600 feet.

Might I add a bravo for the pictures.
Usually this kind of question has a blurry picture, in which identifying what we are supposed to be seeing is half the challenge.

I agree. If I needed to count costal grooves to ID this salamander, which is necessary for some species, these pictures would have allowed that.

Yeah, tell that to Bob.

Gila monsters are large desert-dwelling venomous reptiles with short chunky tails. They have scales, not smooth skin.

I grew up in the Colorado Rockies not too far from where this critter was found (7,200 feet). There were many Western Fence lizards both near our house and higher up.

For a minute there, I was looking up schedules to make sure Tennessee wasn’t playing the Buffs this weekend.

I got better.