What Lurks in the Dark?

I’m following Trevor Francke down a twisty trail at Muleshoe Bend Recreation Area an hour after dusk, sweeping a black light along the ground in front of me with every step. A glowing green scorpion pops into focus, and then another. Soon I discover spiders lurk everywhere, too. Add to that a cacophony of whippoorwills and some coyotes yipping in the distance, and it quickly becomes apparent the night shift has reported for duty on this cloudy, still evening in late May.

“I’ve seen a scorpion every time I’ve done this trek—sometimes 50 of them,” says Francke, who is leading us through the 654-acre park that skirts the shores of Lake Travis northwest