Don’t Eat the Worm

Like tinsel at Christmas, these worms hung from every branch, every tree.

Big Springs, up the South Fork of Provo Canyon is home to some primetime singletrack. If you are feeling ambitious you can ride from Big Springs into Wallsburg, or up and over into Rock Canyon and Provo. You can take Windy Pass and Lightening Peak into Hobble Creek. The possibilities are manifold. The riding and scenery is world class.

Yesterday there was something different about the trail. Something…creepy. It didn’t take long to figure out what it was. Worms. Hanging from the trees, clinging to silky tethers were hundreds and thousands of worms. As we rode we tried to dodge them, but that proved impossible. We repeatedly brushed, swept, picked, and flicked the worms off of our shoulders, our arms, our legs, and even out of my beard. As I sped down the snaking (worming?) singletrack I had one single thought coursing through my mind.

Don’t eat the worms.

I kept my mouth tightly shut. The longer I sped through the trees the more sticky, silky spidery web gunk wrapped around my bike, my body, and my helmet. When I came to a stop there were several of the little crawlers inching along, in various locations. I went through the now getting ridiculous process of clearing them off my person. Laughing and groaning all at once.

After the ride I took off my jersey, and shook it. Four or five more worms plopped out onto the pavement and started squirming away. As I went to bed last night, I could not help but feel that the little creepers were still inching along my arms or legs, or though my hair. More than once I brushed at a phantom tickle or twitch. As I drifted off to sleep, that familiar phrase of earlier in the day entered my mind once again…

Don’t eat the worms.

A look up at the Cascade Saddle