Anyone else ever get writers block or mental fog?

UGH! That was me last week. I have so much to share and write about yet I couldn’t find the mental capacity to think and write.

Well, I am back! For today anyways. Let’s see how long it lasts. ha

So, today there will be no Tuesday’s Tip of the Day, as I want to share this with you all.

 

The week before Labor Day weekend J-Man, Bedge and I hit the road for one night of camping. At least we thought it was only going to be one night away.

We planned to camp around Boulder Mountain in Southeast Utah, eat at one of our FAVORITE restaurants – Hell’s Backbone Grill, do some hiking and relax a little bit.

We did all of that and more.

Hell’s Backbone Grill – Boulder, UT

Delicious spicy red pepper and goat cheese pasta with grilled veggies.

 

I’m not going to share with you the details of the trip yet because I have something super crazy, creepy and interesting to share.

I have been dying to get this up for everyone but I am having a hard time editing the photos and really just writing about it. It gives me the heebie jeebies thinking about it, but here it goes.

Our first night camping during this trip was in Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument. We had a fabulous dinner at Hell’s Backbone Grill and then headed into the monument to find a place to camp. We were looking for some dispersal camping and nothing to0 far into the monument as we would be backtracking the next morning.

We pulled off a dirt road, traveled for a short while and found a perfectly flat previously used site to set up camp for the evening. As the sun set and the glow from the horizon gave us enough light to make home for the night Bedge raised the roof of the roof top tent, J-Man put on his head lamp and explored and I was getting all of our bedtime necessities ready.

 

 Home away from home for the evening.

 

J-Man exploring in the dark.

 

As I was walking around camp with my headlamp on I noticed a small speck in the distance reflecting in the sand. I was curious and bewildered as to what would be reflecting, so I made my way to the area of the reflection. Once I was in the area I thought I saw it it was gone. Nothing shining, reflecting or out of the ordinary. I thought I was imagining it so I went back to the truck and went about my business until I saw more specks. This time there were 3 or 4.

Ack!

I’m getting creeped out as I write this.

EEEEEEK!

Ok.

So I slowly walked up to the speck and as I approached it I saw something bury itself into the sand.

That had me freaked out but super curious as to what in the heck I just saw.

I was on a mission now.

As creeped out as I was I wanted to know what I was seeing.

The next speck I saw I very very slowly approached it shining my light on it and low and behold it was a S P I D E R, not just a small spider, either.

This was a pretty big, black eight legged creature.

ACK!

Now, I was a bit freaked out. Not creeped out anymore but freaked out, as I REALLY dislike spiders. Even though I was freaked I was very curious as to what type of spider I had found.

I got Bedge and J-man to join me on my exploration of these black sand arachnids. It was difficult to check them out since they bury themselves in the sand if we got too close.

Bedge took it upon himself to use his stealth like ninja skills to approach one of the spiders and take a picture.

This is what he got…

 

Wanna close up? Here you go…

 

Creepy or what??

I thought I was going to have nightmares about these darn things and THANK GOODNESS we were sleeping on the roof of the FJ. No way would I have been able to pitch a tent on the ground right next to them. Whoa! I can’t even describe what kind of feelings that would create.

UP, UP and AWAY from the spiders! Heading up into the roof top tent.

 

Yeah, I’m being pretty dramatic but it was quite insane to see these things reflecting all over the place and then knowing we were sleeping amongst them. Ay yi yi!

I’ve tried to do my research about these spiders but I get too creeped out from the information and pictures popping up in my search.

We did come to these conclusions:

• Located in Southeast Utah, particularly, Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument.
• They live in soft sand. Didn’t find a single one in hard packed dirt.
• They don’t like humans (as they scurry underground when approached).
• Their eyes are reflective. I first I thought it was their backs that were reflecting but we think it’s their eyes.

 

Tell me, does anyone know anything about these spiders? Who wants to do some research and help me find out the details of these spiders we found?

 

Have you ever discovered a creature of sorts that you were intrigued, curious or creeped out by?