My hiking trip through the land of the Ticks!

"Ewwwwwwwww!!! I'm covered in $#!!!@ TICKS!!!" That pretty much describes my reaction today during my hike when I felt something crawling on my leg, then looked down to see a tick with a white dot on its back. I've now identified this as a female Lone Star tick. I've thoughtfully provided a photo. You're welcome. :)

Well, I spent the next 4 hours of our 5 hour hike obsessing over the ticks. Every time I looked down there was at least one tick on the prowl, making its merry way up my leg to the more hospitable climate of my unmentionables. Aaaaaaaaaaaarrggh!

I could sometimes feel the big ones crawling, but there were so many pinhead sized "babies" that I could hardly keep track of them. I can't convey how crappy this hike was turning out to be. Sure, the scenery was really nice at points, but was it worth having to suffer through this tick onslaught? Methinks NOT!

In addition to that, I was wearing some old running shoes instead of proper hiking footwear, so my feet, and pretty much everything from the waist down, were aching and dirty.

Once we escaped our hell we went to the springs to clean off a little. That was a nice way to end a grueling and disgusting day.


Ahhhh... beautiful, tick-free, Wekiva Springs, FL.