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Sometimes you don’t realize what a great day you had until later.

Over Thanksgiving, I spent a day near Tallassee, Alabama hiking on the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail.

Finding the trail head from the parking lot wasn’t as easy as it should have been and later I ended up taking a turn that shortened by hike by 2 miles due to poor signage. The fallen leaves everywhere made it difficult to stay on parts of the trail. The trail was still enjoyable with ups and down parts. I rate it moderate overall with a few short difficult sections. Along the way, I saw wild turkey, deer and an interesting spider that I’d never seen before along with the normal squirrel and bird life.

According the the Bugfinder site I saw a Spiny Backed Orb Weaver in the center of its normal web. It was a little over 1cm in diameter.

Anyway, it was a nice few hours spent hiking in nature next to Martin Lake with a few overlooks.