Author: Amy Horn
Last month, I came across a beautiful lake in Nevada while driving to Tahoe. It was a hot summer day and the water was blue and with the group in our car, we thought of stopping for a break. But something was odd about this beautiful lake. As we continued to drive along the 10-mile length of the lake we noticed no one was in the lake. Not one boater, skier, or swimmer. This didn’t make sense. So, I grabbed my phone and started doing a little research. This lake is named Walker Lake and after one quick google search I recognized the problem. The first hit that drew my attention was, “Walker Lake has a creepy, crawly secret that only shows itself during the summer.” I was intrigued. After reading more, it was clear that spiders infest everything along the lake. By the time I figured all this out, we had passed the lake. So, a few days later on our return trip, we made a stop. These orb weaving spiders were everywhere, on bushes, picnic benches, and on the ground. Other than a few birds and a few unlucky dragonflies… we only saw spiders. We didn’t stay long, but it was an exciting stop!
Amy Horn is a professor of photography at Northern Arizona University and instructor for Arizona Highways Photo Workshops. To see her current schedule view ahpw.org or horndesigns.com.