#bonus arachnid below the cut

[kithpendragon]

A whole tree for your mental health 😌

May you be peaceful and happy

May you be strong and healthy

May you be safe and feel secure

Bonus: Eight-legged friend below the cut!

Photos by me: use them as you like and I'd love to see what you did with them!

This is some kind of Fishing Spider who sat very still while I took their photo!

[c-burner-0016]

Hey, so,

While I am not apart of the radqueer community I'd strongly advise blocking @/88-arachnids-grip-88

She's done horrible things to especially me and my friends, screenshots below

Threatening to send me her cutting pictures

Her almost killing her animals, her perfectly healthy ones at that. Instead of offering to rehome her pets she was instead going to murder them.

Her death threating me for untrue things (I am 15 years old)

Her going at my 14 yo girlfriend "most vile anti shipper" when she just argued murderers and rapists shouldn't be set free. We have both wanted her to leave us alone

And a bonus, while I cannot find a screenshot currently she has said something about shooting her school.

[cucullas]

Favourite Spider associated myths | Anansi, Aracne, Jorogumo, Spider Grandmother | TW: Spider 

Feared and always present Spider had always fascinated me, and also many people in many cultures. Here are my favorite stories [beware a spider image below the cut]

Aracne |  At the origin of words like arachnid or arachnophobia is the Ancient Greek myth of the weaver Aracne. Renowed by her craft she boasted to be better than the Gods. Defied by Athena she does an admirable tapestry denouncing the Gods abuses to mortals (the rapt of Europa, or Leda) and refuse to bow to the Gods. Furious the Athena forces the girl to choke herself, then, having compassion for such a skilled weaver, transform her on the first spider. 

Anansi | The name comes from the Akan language of Ghana and means “spider” and his figure is know in West Africa. Anansi is a trickster, sometimes cruel but almost always witty and ressourceful. He is also a story teller who, like the spider, spins his story. In fact, he won with clever tricks the stories of the world from the Great God and share them with humanity so people had knowledge and are not longer bored. Brought by enslaved population his stories are also popular in the Antilles. 

Grandmother Spider | Variations of the myth exist in many parts of North America, from Northen Mexico to Southern Canada. On the culture of some Hopi and Navajo groups Grandmother Spider is a important benevolent figure. She taught people how to weave but also, associated with the Sun Tawa, teached humanity how to live and in some occasion, gives them souls, steals a bit of the sun to gives them fire or guides them to new worlds. 

Jorogumo | Born in Japan Edo period, the story of this creature (a “yokai”) has become popular in pop culture. It starts with a simple but interesting question: what if a female demon ate men like the Joro Spider eats males after mating? With tricks and lies the Jorogumo tries to attract young warriors or workers to mate with her. A shapesifter she can create webs and control smaller spider, specially the Joro Spider, one of Japan bigger species who share her name. 

+ Bonus 

Aerop - Enap | The Nauru creation myth follows and old spider who lived bored in a dark and lone worls. She set to correcy this and went to search for other beings. After being swallowed by a clam proceed to fight aided by other mollusc to open and kill the clam. She them proceeds to create the world with it’s shell while her snails friens become the Sun and the Moon. After she created the worls, she also made animals from mud and thus was not bored anymore. 

[thehikingviking]

Stuart Point from Highway 178, Resting Spring Range High Point

We were on our way to Las Vegas from Death Valley, so I chose to hike Stuart Point as it was on the way and was low enough to be devoid of any snow. We slept in the car along the California Nevada border and started at the standard starting point along Highway 178. We crossed the highway and began our cross country route to the north.

The soil was very hard packed in places. Some refer to this type of ground as desert concrete. I directed Asaka towards the target wash and told her not to look back, as I needed to stop and relieve myself. Once finished, I caught back up with her, and we continued above the bottom of the wash on the left side, hoping to make the hike as smooth as possible. We hiked to a small saddle where a more prominent wash cut beneath us. There were two drainages in front of us and it was unclear which one we were supposed to ascend.

I stood there puzzled for a while until I realized that we were to climb up neither. In fact, doing so was the same mistake that Mihai and Connor McEntee made, which I remembered from reading their trip reports. The correct ascent drainage was indeed slightly below and further to the right.

As we prepared to drop down, I was surprised to find another hiker making his way up to the saddle. His name was Chad Thomas, and he was out for a quick peak while his girlfriend rested in the car. After finishing the SPS list, he was now focusing on P2ks.

We dropped down into the new wash and chatted for a bit. I told him I would be interested in joining him on some future P2ks and we continued ahead of us up the drainage. I could have kept up with him however I chose to stay back with Asaka, who’s pregnancy was making her slower than usual.

We dropped one more time into yet another drainage. This one was more deep and narrow than the others.

The cool limestone canyon was enjoyable to stroll through.

There were a couple dry falls to contend with, but all could be bypassed with easy class 3 moves.

Something caught my eye in one of the lingering pools of water.

Upon closer inspection, a floating tarantula was found beneath the surface.

Shortly after, another deceased arachnid came into view. A flash flood may have caused the spider deaths.

Soon after we were confronted by yet another dry fall. This one could have been avoided all together by climbing up out of the canyon, however it appeared too fun to pass up. Even Asaka found it easy to climb up the obstacle, with solid and sticky limestone rocks.

From here we cut back to the standard route, finding the occasional scattered cairn on our way to the next drainage. We took a rest at the next small saddle. I could hear Chad above us, but I couldn’t see him. I still wasn’t exactly sure which bump along the ridgeline was Stuart Point. Having GPS on this particular hike was exceptionally useful. We dropped into one last drainage and gained the final ascent ridge. With a 1,500 ft steep ascent remaining, I wondered if it would be too much for Asaka.

I judged we would be able to make it so long as we took a slow pace and I remained patient.

The rock was extremely loose in places and the climb was very tedious. I stayed on top of the larger blocks of limestone for better footing, and urged Asaka to do the same.

At about the halfway point we took a break and Asaka told me to go on without her. I assured her that I was in no rush, and we both would be able to make the summit together. We had plenty of time to finish the peak even at our snail’s pace, however chances of me tagging a bonus peak were dwindling. We continued up the limestone ridge like the backbone of a sleeping giant dragon.

Alas we made it to the elevation of the main ridgeline. Not much more remained.

We circled around to the back side where we found Chad making his way back down. I asked if he had done any bonus peaks. He did not, and simply enjoyed his time alone on the summit. He must have been up there for a really long time for us to find him near the top. We exchanged pleasantries once again and bid adieu. I was eager to finally reach the summit.

Not long after we reached the top.

To the northwest was Shadow Mountain.

To the northeast was Stewart Valley.

To the east was Charleston Peak.

To the southeast were Pahrump Point and Nopah Peak.

To the southwest ran the Resting Spring Range.

To the west were Brown Peak and Greater Death Valley.

We had a late lunch just beneath the summit out of the wind. I was very proud of Asaka, who struggled to get up the peak. Our descent was a loose one.

Asaka slipped a couple times, which made me a bit nervous, but she never fell too hard. The baby might come out with a couple of bruises.

As we dropped back down the canyon, the sun retreated over the ridge, and shadows coated the landscape. I didn’t want to be caught out after dark, but thankfully Asaka’s downhill pace wasn’t much impacted with the pregnancy.

I took in the good views as we walked out to the car at a leisurely pace.

There was plenty of daylight left by the time we reached the car, but there wouldn’t be enough time for a bonus peak. It turns out that even if I had enough time, there was too much snow where I wanted to go anyways. We continued on to Las Vegas where we had a warm shower and a bed waiting for us.