I was sitting at Patient First, my primary care physician, with a gigantic bug bite.

A bright, red, bulls-eye looking bump was now covering about half of my calf. The culprit? The doctor couldn’t say for sure, but we both agreed it looked like the Amblyomma americanum – otherwise known as the Lone Star Tick. I won’t gross you out, but if you want to see what the bite looked like you can visit a webpage here (not my leg, but the bite looked identical).

The pictures below are the result of a four hour hike at sunset through First Landing State Park. The bug bite was worth it. The scenery was beautiful. I finally got around to posting these photos; they’ve been sitting on a hard drive for months now. To get one of these shots I pushed my way through tall reeds to the edge of a little swamp. I’m almost positive I met my little friend there. Also, thanks to Chris Peek for the company. He has an awesome blog, you should visit. He’s a fantastic writer and photographer. Click here to mosey your way on over.