Guns, Snakes, and Mice OH MY! (WAS: [at-l] RE: Manassas Shelter)

[lparker@cacaphony.net (L. Parker)]

Mental note to self:

Never hike with Lee unless Shane comes along and brings an Uuzie.

 Aww, but it gets BETTER. I was hiking with the same friend a few months ago
and he was leading the way. This is important, because he is taller, and
that way HE cleared all of the spider webs (and their inhabitants) out of
the way before I got there.

Well, I stopped in the middle of the trail (two feet wide, no duff) and
point out the rattlesnake curled up in the middle of the trail that he had
just stepped right over. Okay, so this one was probably a baby, it was only
a couple of feet long and hadn't started to thicken up yet, but it was right
there in plain sight.

He said it was obvious that it was my turn to lead since he was so
preoccupied with spiders he hadn't seen such an obvious, umm, hazard.

Well no sooner did I take the lead than I ran smack into a spider web with
the resident still at home - at nose level. These are Golden Orb Weavers we
are talking about, bigger than Tarantulas. Picture a dinner plate splayed
across your face...picture me jumping straight up in the air backwards,
picture me landing on my back on top of my pack, picture the bite valve
exploding off of the hose as the overpressure caused by two hundred plus
pounds comes down upon the water bladder.

Never did find the spider (just as well, I would have killed the little
sucker), and I had a convenient excuse for why my shorts were wet....

Lee I Joe




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