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Ozark Trail Part I: Spiders

Yesterday, I took a long hike on the Ozark Trail’s longest section, the Courtois (pronounced “Code-a-way”).

Although I’d like to write an entire blog on the section of trail that I hiked, for now I’d like to show you some of the arachinids who were hanging out on their webs across my trail.

Itsy Bitsy Spider, photo by smalltowngirl

Itsy Bitsy Spider, photo by smalltowngirl

I don’t know what I was thinking hiking in August, but my hike was hot, humid, and spider-infested.

A few hundred feet into the trail, the spiderwebs started to become problematic. Over and over again, I felt their sticky threads wrap around my arms, legs, or face, and found myself swatting at the air like a maniac, trying to get the webs off of my skin.

I picked up a long, thin stick, which I carried like a sword in front of my body, trying to knock spiderwebs down.  Along I plodded, slicing my stick-sword through the air, a full-blown war waged between myself and these eight-legged creepy crawlers.

This gigantic spider, with a body well larger than my thumb, was intimidating. I didn’t want to make him mad at me, so I left his web intact and asked him to please not bother me as I deftly snuck beneath his web.

Big spider, photo by smalltowngirl

Big spider, photo by smalltowngirl

Spiders were everywhere. To say I saw hundreds of them is not an exaggeration. I saw red ones, black ones and gray ones; big ones little ones and itsy bitsy ones.

For good measure, I took a few shots of some daddy long legs, hanging upside down in a cave.  Daddy long legs are arachnids, although they aren’t techinically spiders. I thought this last shot rounded out my spider photo collection nicely.

long legs, photo by smalltowngirl

long legs, photo by smalltowngirl


Related posts:

  1. St. Joe State Park Bicycle Trail
  2. Lost Valley Trail
  3. Pickle Springs State Natural Area
  4. Hawn State Park
  5. Caledonia, Missouri Pt. II

6 comments to Ozark Trail Part I: Spiders

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