[pct-l] Snike bite Kit....!

[goforth at cnw.com (Joanne Lennox)]

a close friend of mine was bitten by a rattle snake on the PCT coming down 
the north side of San Jacinto.  Said his entire leg was black and blue, and 
spent 2 days in the hospital.  His wife walked down to the highway to get 
help.  The snake was in tall grass, and he was unable to see it before it 
struck.  He is an experienced climber, hiker, and has hiked the entire PCT 
in sections.

A 15 year old who I was introducing to the CA sierras got bitten in my tent 
by a scorpion near the PCT at Bear Creek(Vermillion). This quiet youngster 
began to scream and holler just as I was waking up which got my attention 
He said that it felt like a bad bee sting.  I was incredulous until he 
pointed out the scorpion on the tent floor.  He later told me how pissed he 
was when I carefully lifted the scorpion and put it outside the tent.  I was 
completely stunned by the whole episode - although I has seen a lot of 
scorpions in desert areas, I had never seen one inthe Sierras., let alone 
seen a bite, and on a youngster that I was responsible for.

Almost stepped on a couple of ratlers -one near Indian springs road and a 
couple of other on Desert Divide.  They were crossing the trail and we were 
on each other before either had reaction time.  Same thing happened with the 
horse - whissed by a couple of rattles that I could easily have touched 
sitting on ledges and we were by before the recognition and panic set in.

goforth