The Horse or Multi-purpose or the Lost Kingdom of the Spiders Trail

Writing or Garden Spider
Originally uploaded by toadshade

Well we went back to Poinsett this weekend thinking we were going to get a good, brisk 6 mile walk on the Horse Trail. It turned out that the Horse Trail had been changed to the 'Multi-purpose Trail.' Well it turned out to be narrow in parts and slow going because of the Spiny Orb Weavers and Writing Spiders blocking the trail with their webs. Not wanting to have one of these babies (pictured) in our hair, mouth or packs, we were very careful to clear the path with Ann-Marie's walking stick. To top that off, the trail signs were so confusing that we had to cut the trip short and rely on our GPS to get back to the car. But, as the program teaches us, we met calamity with serenity (defined as 'less bitching and whining than normal'), and after dodging the spiders we found quite a few wildflowers that were a first for me. The list of newbies are St. Andrews Cross, Roseling, Grass-leaved Golden Aster and Pineweed. Others that I've seen elsewhere or here before were Fern-leaved False Foxglove, Whorled Coreopsis, Elephant's Foot, Butterfly Pea, Daisy Fleabane, Pokeweed and Horse Nettle. Didn't hear or see much on the Avian side. I think the spiders ate them all. Did hear some hawks though: 2 Mississippi Kites, a Red-tailed Hawk and a Red-shouldered Hawk. The cloud cover kept the heat down and it turned into a great walk.

Happy Lammas everyone!

toadshade