Week 18: Falls Lake

May 1, 2010

Today I went to Falls Lake with MR. We were going to hike part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. What I thought was a good entry point, according to the Internet, turned out not to look to good. We drove down to another point just inside the state park and started from there. I had just gotten out of the car and walked over to the map when I realized that I already had a tick on me. I doused myself in bug spray. I naively thought that this would be a well worn path like most of the other state parks I had been to. I was wrong. The path was high in weeds and not well worn. I was wearing shorts for all of those nasty little ticks to attack me. MR was much smarter by wearing pants.

After taking 5 minutes to determine which way the path went we were off through the woods. Most of the trail provided plenty of shade on this hot sunny day which we were grateful for. The beginning on our hike was very pretty - trees growing up among a sea of green clover looking plants. We walked for a small time near the lake, but at most points on the trail you could barely see the lake. At one point we ever lost the trail as it crossed into the state park. On the way out of the park we saw a monstrous blue herring. All in all it was a pleasant walk except for the spider webs, millions of them in our faces.

I dropped MR off and headed home. I got a text shortly after that MR had found 6 ticks on her. A bit later she found 4 more. YIKES! I searched and searched and found none on me. Maybe my bug spray actually worked. Later in the evening, I jumped in my car and headed out. As I was driving down the road I saw 2 ticks scampering across my windshield. By the time I got to my destination I had lost sight of them. My skin was crawling. I can deal with insects like spiders, beetles, and grasshoppers. I can even deal with mice and snakes. But there are 2 creatures that I can't deal with - ticks and cockroaches. Even the thought of them make my skin crawl. So now I'm wondering how to I get an infestation of ticks out of my car?