On our first visit to the restaurant early in our time here in Thailand, I saw a trailhead sign near the restaurant indicating a 1.5km trail leading to a remote cove beach in the small park's interior. I'd looked forward to making the short trek ever since seeing it and finally the day came. After running laps around the same running track for the last three weeks, I was ready for some new scenery. My plan was to make the walk down to the beach with my wife, get all set up, and then run repeats of the trail section.
It was- for reasons very soon to be mentioned- not fully accomplished.
My wife Kendra along the trail
I was carrying the pack and after parking the car nearby, we headed down the path. I stopped about 10 feet in to grab the camera out of the side mesh pocket of my trusty backpack. Kendra continued walking and as I reached behind I maintained my gaze forward, distracted by the beautiful jungle scenery. The glint of sunlight off a spider web caught my eye and I followed it to the web's center where
holy-hell-there's-a-spider-the-size-of-my-face!
I just stood there and stared at it.
I suffer no ill will towards spiders, mind you, and have nothing near a phobia of anything save an irrational fear of sharks, but it was all I could do to just keep standing there staring at it. Kendra, further along the trail that quite inconveniently passes directly beneath the beast, senses I'm not behind her and turns around. She sees me just standing there staring and, immediately concerned, asks what wrong. Speechless, I just look down at her and then back at the spider. It would be indecent for me to repeat the words she then used.
Anyway, I overcame my initial surprise and managed to walk under the thing. We maintain a blog about our trip and I posted a picture there which I'll now link just in case the arachnophobic triathletes viewing this entry would prefer not to be involuntarily accosted by its image. It was, by our estimate, 8 inches in total length, with a body about 3 or 4inches long (very similar to or larger than the size of my thumb) and you can see it here . Turns out it's a Golden Web Orb Spider (turns out our 8in estimate was right on), and given its intimidating nature and position at the start of the trail, we would name it "The Gatekeeper."
Turns out, the Gatekeeper wasn't alone and we would encounter 5 more along the trail. In the interest of self-preservation, Kendra had me lead the length of trail to the beach so I had the privilege of discovering each of them. After the third, I just stopped telling her as it's simply easier to pass by them without knowing. It's safe to say that the plethora of giant spiders with a propensity to span the trail significantly dampened my previously unbridled enthusiasm to get in a trail run. Nevertheless, I was able to do laps of the sections that were proven safe. Here are some pictures along with some shots of the beautiful beach we found at the trail's end.
A scenic, rocky viewpoint early on in the short hike
Running one of the 'safe' sections. When it comes to giant spiders, there are no safe sections.
The hike in, though short at just below a mile, had enough ups and downs and rugged patches to make reaching the beach feel like a pleasant reward. The warm water and small schools of fish made swimming around a pleasant way to cool off coming out of the humid jungle.
Playing with shadows on the powder-soft sand
