[pct-l] Yellow Jacket Story

[Edward Anderson]

Hi Marion,
 
The "bees" that you stepped on as a kid were most likely yellow jackets. Honey bees only sting once and then die. The stinger stays in you - it is barbed.
 
Now, yellow jackets are different. They nest in the ground, and you stepped on the wrong spot. Ouch - ouch - ouch - etc. - etc. - etc.  And 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 to same. 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>
To: pct-l <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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