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‍September is for spiders. On less humid days, the boat floats through gossamer strands carrying spiders to their next destination. Spiny back and marbled orb weavers’ carefully woven dinner plates cross the trails. Joro spiders’ three-dimensional golden webs are everywhere, high and low. I can’t help but admire their determination to live. Recently, while enjoying the cool spray of a waterfall, a gasp of “Ahhhh, that’s the biggest spider I have ever seen!” pointed me to an elegant fishing spider perched on a wet log. The beautiful brown lady was quite large in body and leg span. Her location next to cool water, her long, elegant legs, and her wavy-lined markings set her apart from the similar Carolina Wolf Spider. She carried an egg sac full of future fishing spiders in her jaw. Some will live just long enough to become fish food, or a snack for a migrating bird. Some will carry the next generation in their jaws. Either way, life goes on in the Jocassee Gorges and we get to be witnesses to it. ~Tricia Kyzer, JLT and Jocassee Wild Child guide