The cool thing about where I live is that I’m a half-mile from the entrance a couple of awesome mountain trials. One is more extreme and thus not as frequented by the masses. The other, the one I chose to run today, is a six-mile trek, door-to-door, that has a high volume of traffic: pedestrians, horses and cyclists. On this trail, despite the masses that frequent it, wildlife spottings are a regular occurrence. And the season determines which wildlife one might see.
A little over three miles into my run today, I got an up-close-and-personal sighting that almost proved fatal to it. What did I see? A huge black tarantula! This is the season for them, along with large dirt-colored ones. And they’ll be a regular sighting on the trail for the next six weeks or so.
I was coming down a cyclist trial, running at a good clip, when I had to make an abrupt turn to reconnect with the main trail. This I’ve done hundreds of times. Only today’s transition had me side jumping at the last possible second to avoid landing my left foot on an innocent tarantula who was minding his own business, coming out to begin his nightly hunt.
I did stop to make sure that I hadn’t caused him any distress and then asked other approaching individuals to please give him his space. That’s another great thing about these trails. Those who frequent them have a true love of nature and, like me, go out of their way to keep its inhabitants safe.
While curious spectators gathered round, I snapped this photo of my new friend then continued on with my run.
This is a good spot to mention that normally I don’t appreciate spiders. That’s because they are inside my house, and I am a firm believer that they should stay outdoors. As such, seeing as this furry tarantula was in his own territory that I was a guest in, I was able to appreciate him.
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