[pct-l] Yellowjackets and Epipens on the PCT

[mkwart at gci.net]

Ironically, I just got stung by a yellow jacket in the Russian 
Wilderness in Northern California yesterday. I was only about a mile 
west of the PCT. I did not step on a nest--we were fixing dinner and the 
yellowjackets were buzzing us.I got up to walk over to the other end of 
the campsite and a yellowjacket stung me on my thigh when it was buzzing 
my leg and the hem of my shorts trapped it against my leg. We later 
located the nest in a snag on a ridge--they don't always nest in the 
ground.

I had gotten stung many times in my youth by yellowjackets as a 
woodsworker for the US Forest Service--I had stepped on ground nests 
during firefighting and during cutting of damaged trees in clearcuts in 
preparation for prescribed burning.I had very little reaction to the 
stings back then.

This time, the skin around the bite (and it was a bite that removed a 
small chunk of skin) got swollen and the skin burned and was tight. I 
also knew that an anaphylactic reaction could happen after experienceing 
multiple bites during a life. Lucklily someone had an epipen--I didn't 
have to use it, but it made me think about getting one.

When I was working in the woods for the Forest Service in the 70's, when 
people got bitten once in a day, they often got bitten again--the 
traditional wisdom was that the yellowjackets could perceive a chemical 
exuded by the attacking yellowjackets and would attack again. The fear 
hypothesis also was bandied about. It did seem that when someone got bit 
once, they were in the middle of other yellowjacket experiences later on 
the day.

I initially used hand sanitizer to minimize the itch and discomfort of 
the bite yesterday. Someone also produced some sting relief pads that I 
think I will add to my backpack first aid kit--I used one for overnight 
relief of itching.
--Fireweed