Ticked Off in Amelia WMA!

It isn't often that I quit on a very doable hike, but that happened today in Amelia Wildlife Management Area, run by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. My original goal was to do a 6 mile loop. There are not maintained trails per se, just old woods roads and other such pathways going through woods and fields, often quite grown up with tall grass and brush. So it is a bit of a challenge to find one's way on this hike.

I got the idea of going here because the ODATC was going to do this hike yesterday, but cancelled it. My original intent was to go along with them, and after it was canceled, I decided to go by myself today, having never been there. There is a nice sized lake that the hike skirts the shore of, and the potential promise of seeing some wildlife. And I did see wildlife, tons of it, mostly with eight legs and in a very friendly mood. After going about a mile and picking at least two dozen ticks from my clothing, I decided to try this one in winter some time and turned around. I continued picking a few ticks off all the way back to the car, and even just before jumping in the shower at home!

I heard oven birds and cardinals calling, saw an unidentified yellowish warbler, and several interesting kinds of mushrooms. I also saw a wasp dragging a large wolf spider that she had paralyzed for her progency to get their start in life from. But the dominant wildlife were ticks - lots and lots of ticks!

-

Here are some photos from my short, tick plagued hike:

Very cool yellowish-orange mushroom

There was no marked trail. Some of the track was fairly open like this;

Other parts of it were grassy and brushy, like this, with plenty of ticks to go around

Interesting tree

Not sure what type of flower this is, maybe some type of a black-eyed Susan

This mushroom was so pretty, and this little area of the forest floor almost looked like it was on fire from it

Muddy stream on the way to Amelia Lake, and from there to the nearby Appomattox River

Queen Anne's Lace (or similar)