[pct-l] Yellow jackets and EpiPens on the PCT

[Maxine Weyant]

Lots of stuff about bees:

If you are stung--always make sure the stinger is out!  (look at the contour of the sting, it can look like a tiny bristle.  Use your teeth if you have to.)  Also, try to get ice or cold water on the sting ASAP to keep the swelling down and slow the spread of allergen or the intensity of the local tissue reaction.  You can use an alcohol swab or a wet piece of cloth, and keep shaking the cloth to cool it down.  Take Benadryl right away if you're prone to allergic reactions, especially with hives.  Take an epi-pen along if you have to, but plan to use a 2nd one if necessary.   People in serious trouble often need to repeat the epi-pen injection about 20 minutes after the first. So, always carry 2 if you are someone who has had a serious reaction in the past.  

You mentioned you have a strong reaction to bees, but didn't mention what your reaction was.  There's a local tissue reaction, like pain, swelling, and later itching, and then there's a more serious systemic reaction like hives, wheezing, throat swelling, itching and swelling of the eyes (when the sting was nowhere near the face,)  and sometimes a person just collapses and goes into anaphylactic shock.  You can have a really bad local tissue reaction that doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a worse reaction next time or that you're really allergic.   And yes, some bees are more allergenic than others.  I believe yellow jackets are among the worst in terms of producing an allergic reaction, and they certainly are aggressive.  I don't think they are responding to fear, as someone suggested, but they're really going after whomever tore open or stepped into their nest and whomever is waving and running the most vigorously.  

On the PCT between Campo and Hauser Creek during the Kickoff this year (April) there were 1 or 2 swarms of bees.  I heard what I thought was a spring coming out of a rock and turned my head to locate the sound when I saw a huge airborne swarm several feet from my face.  I just turned on my heel and never looked back to see what type of bees they were.   Most likely honeybees, which do that when they're gathering to relocate to a new nest.  I did hear that someone got stung that day.   I also saw hundreds of bees during the peak of the wildflowers on Mt Jefferson and Mt Hood 2 weeks ago but they didn't care about me even when I sat down right among them to eat lunch and take photos.  At other times, I have been chased by wasps or hornets on the trail. It's usually just one or 2, often on a road.  They seem really persistent and I find that if I swing my poles high in opposite directions while I'm walking, they decide I'm a hazard and go away. 

I've also observed that I am more likely to be chased and stung by bees and wasps if I'm wearing white, or if i've used a hand lotion containing lanolin.  For years I wore a white sun shirt and I was always the one who got chased or stung.  Now I use a grey one and it's made huge difference.  I don't use any scented products on the trail, but I would often get stung when wearing lanolin-containing unscented lotion.  I'm sure there are many products and lip balms and fragrances and colors that attract some bees more than others. Yellow jackets of course are attracted by food and one quickly grows tired of eating "bees and cheese."  Bald-faced hornets are nasty, mean SOB's that are also attracted to food and will chase you.  White face, black body.  Some bees also will bite you, not just sting.  Something bit a little divot out of the back of my neck on the Muir Trail a few years ago.  It felt just like a bee sting, and started to swell immediately.   Fortunately a man I was talking to had a liter of snow in his water bottle from the last pass, so I could ice it, but it still swelled into a 4 inch wide welt and itched for days.  

I've had some weird encounters with bees and have sometimes had bad local reactions.  I once rappelled out my window to trim a huge thorny hedge and disturbed a bumblebees' nest.  By the time I could get back inside and out of my harness I'd been stung several times and it hurt worse than average bee stings.  I had huge red painful welts which hurt for days and then itched, but nothing more serious.  One summer I was stung on trails in WA 3 times within 2 weeks.  I think they were all the same type of bee, can't remember the specific type.  The 3rd sting occurred on my wrist and by the next day my whole hand was swollen and pink and my arm swelled up to above my elbow. The itching drove me crazy and I couldn't wear a sterile glove on that hand at work for a few days.  Some sources recommend that if the local tissue reaction extends beyond 2 joints, one should take greater precautions in the future.  So for a few years I carried an ANA Kit or, more recently, 2 epi-pens.  I have since had several more stings from a variety of bees and have not had a serious problem so I finally stopped carrying the epi-pens, which are heavy and bulky.  I do carry diphenhydramine (Benadryl) but I haven't had to use it much.  There is a topical Benadryl you could also apply to the sting but it's not worth the weight.  I always make sure the stinger is out, and I always put ice, snow, or cold water on the sting as long as possible to keep the swelling down and slow the spread of any reaction that may be happening.  When I do get stung, I also try to sit calmly for awhile and, since I often hike alone, if someone happens along I tell them what's going on and ask them to wait around a few minutes.  

Dys-feng shui-nal