[pct-l] Fw: KILLER BEES & YELLOW JACKETS - AND MB'S

Sat Nov 24 03:48:51 CST 2012

Yes Ed ,
Once the bees have a  'fix" on you they don't want to let up.
I think I should point out that the hiker that died fell of a cliff 
while being pursuit  by the bees.
His 2 hiking partners were taken to a hospital and treated for over 300 
stings.

JMT Reinhold
----------------------------------------

On 11/23/2012 6:26 AM, Edward Anderson wrote:
>
> Hey Reinhold,
> You wrote: "And what about BEE'S?  Two weeks ago three hikers were 
> attacked by bees in Arizona ...... one is dead."
>
> The bees that you describe that attacked the three hikers in Arizona, 
> and killed one, must have been Killer Bees (Africanized bees). Killer 
> bees and Honey bees can only sting once and then they die. The stinger 
> stays in you - it is barbed. Hope the Killer bees don't reach the PCT. 
> Unfortunately, the Mountain Bikers have - illegally, yes, but they are 
> sometimes there and pose a danger to equestrians and even hikers when 
> they "fly", silently, downhill on blind curves. I had one close call 
> in 2008 on PCT Section E.
> When I rode through a part of PCT Section K north of the Suitele River 
> crossing in Washington in 2009, I had been warned about a bee problem 
> there. Several hikers had been stung. So, I was concerned about 
> it. Luckily, I never saw any bees there.
>
> Now, yellow jackets are very different from bees. They nest in the 
> ground. If you disturb them they might follow you and can keep right 
> on stinging. The following is about an experience that I will never 
> forget. It happened about a decade ago:
>
> I was riding in the one-hundred-mile Swanton Pacific Endurance Race. 
> It was a 100 mile loop, held in the Santa Cruz mountains. It offered 
> incredible scenery as it passed through five state parks, redwood 
> forests, and had grand ocean views. Unfortunately, it was discontinued 
> three years ago. It was my favorite 100 miler. I have finished it 
> eleven times - and failed to finish twice.
>
> Here is what happened when YELLOW JACKETS were encountered. It was 
> during my ride about a decade ago. I was riding in the lead pack along 
> with three women riders. Two miles back, we had passed through the 18 
> mile "trot by" vet check. There was a water trough there for the 
> horses. No mandatory hold, the veterinarians just wanted to watch the 
> horses trot to be sure no horse was lame and would have to be pulled. 
> The four of us were probably separated from the rest of the pack 
> (about 30 more horses) by about six or seven minutes. We were about a 
> mile past the trot-by when I decided to drop back to take a quick pee 
> - since the first vet check with a hold, was at 35 miles. As I 
> re-mounted I could hear the three gals screaming really loud. My 
> immediate guess was bees. I knew that I would have to pass through the 
> place where the screaming was coming from. There was no alternate 
> route. And within another half-mile beyond there was the infamous 
> "slab" to
> cross. It is a smooth, angled rock ,slope about 100' wide. Race 
> management recommends that you walk across the slab to avoid a slip. 
> As I reached the spot, yellow jackets swarmed my horse and I with a 
> vengeance. And I could still hear the women screaming up ahead. We all 
> managed to get across the slab without a slip. The Yellow Jackets 
> followed us for miles. They stung me under my socks, on my neck, under 
> my riding helmet, on my hands. They continued to sting my horse. I 
> caught up with the other three riders and they were experiencing 
> thesame. When I got to the 35 mile vet check I found dead yellow 
> jackets under the saddle pad and under my horses mane. At that check 
> there was a long mandatory hold. As other riders arrived I learned 
> that they all had the same experience - except just one rider. He was 
> not stung even once. He told me that he observed where the yellow 
> jackets were coming from. - from beneath a rock that closely bordered 
> the trail. He
> explained why he was not stung. He said, "I am an Italian. I eat a lot 
> of GARLIC".
>
> MendoRider
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Marion Davison <mardav at charter.net <mailto:mardav at charter.net>>
> To: pct-l <pct-l at backcountry.net <mailto:pct-l at backcountry.net>>
> Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2012 11:15 AM
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Yellow jackets and EpiPens on the PCT
>
> Two years in a row I have been bitten by deer flies in the southern
> Sierra.  They bite between the knuckles on the back of my hand and my
> hand swells up like a balloon and itches tremendously.  I get a red
> scaly rash that looks like cellulitis. I used a gel ointment on it that
> contains benadryl and avoided itching and the swelling went down in 24
> hours.  It reminded me to keep using the deet on my hands.  Since I wear
> long pants/long sleeves, my hands and face are the only thing exposed,
> but I gotta use the deet. I get extreme histamine reactions to
> mosquitoes, deer flies, bed bugs, etc.  The swelling, welts and itching
> are excruciating.  Whereas my husband gets as many bites as I do and has
> no reaction whatsoever to them.  I carry benadryl gel and benadryl pills
> in case of hives.  ( the rash, not the bee's dwelling).
> As a little kid I was on a camping weekend in SoCal and stepped on a bee
> nest in the ground.  The bees swarmed and stung my legs many times.  My
> legs swelled so bad I couldn't walk. I had to be taken home for bedrest.
> I've never had a respiratory reaction to bee stings, lucky for me.
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