I would stay away from this road if I were you. Reading stuff like this always makes me happy that I am in the Pacific NW where we don't have to deal with stuff like chiggers. We have to deal with alot of rain, but the most dangerous animal while training is a squirrel running underneath your bike tire, not a freaking rattlesnake jumping out of the bushes.

Last month, while I was out on a run in our local state park, I felt a sharp pain in my right calf. I looked down and saw something yellow and realized that it was a bee. At that point, I was about 1-2 miles from the nearest human. I spent the rest of my run thankful that I wasn't allergic to bee stings.

I live in rattlesnake country, and have seen dead ones on the road often enough.
I was running in the Provincial Park and was surprised by a snake that had been coiled in the middle of the gravel roadway. As I came within ten feet or so it sat up and barked at me. (figure of speech)

I jumped about three feet in the air and high-stepped it on down the road!

A guy I know had been bitten by a rattlesnake on the meadow trail in that same park, which was as narrow as a single-track MTB trail, but he was being careless. We all know there are snakes in the park. He jogged, then staggered to a busier trail and collapsed in sight of some people who called an ambulance by cell phone. He's fine now, but he had a scare.

PoC

Up here in Portland, no animals venture far enough into the city to be much of a hassle. Maybe I should change some of the areas I work out in to add a little adventure and nature to my workouts, or just watch animal planet while I am on my trainer or treadmill and avoid the risk being eaten or poisoned by nature.

LOL, since you asked - They are small parasites that latch on a suck your blood much like a mosquito only you can't feel or see them - at least during the act of feeding. About 12-24 hours after they have fed, they start to welt up almost like a pimple. The saliva from the chigger starts to make the skin decompose or rot and a small sore appears. And during this whole episode it itches like crazy. Takes 2-3 weeks to heal and I'm still itching although I think its becuase some of the bites became infected and are now healing, so the itch is more like a scab itches as it dries out and is ready to come off.

Put a little clear fingernail polish on the sites. Dries them right up.