Great pics Reuben! Never hiked that particular area before. Fortunately neither of you is allergic to bee venom.
When I was a kid I used to play with bees all the time (and got stung plenty of times), especially after seeing a "bee beard" on Ripley's Believe It or Not! Years ago I was soloing in Montana's Lolo National Forest and when I stepped over a log I stepped right into a bees next. They chased me all the way down to Rock Creek, where I dove into the too shallow river and got banged up on the rocks. I received 60-70 stings, mostly concentrated on my wrist and neck. I was fortunate not to have a reaction, but a few years ago I was stung by a yellow jacket and had to drive to the hospital as my throat started to close shut. The docs said that the more you're stung the more likely you are to get an allergy (so much for the Dread Pirate Roberts and building up his immunity to Iocaine Powder!) and the multiple stings years earlier probably did it. Now I have to carry an Epi-Pen with me.
Oh, yeah and what Tinbasher said. Use a knife edge or if you don't have a knife on you (Ha!) then you can use the edge of a credit card to scrape the stinger away. The poison sack is ripped out with the stinger and if you use tweazers then it injects the rest of the venom into you.
When I was a kid I used to play with bees all the time (and got stung plenty of times), especially after seeing a "bee beard" on Ripley's Believe It or Not! Years ago I was soloing in Montana's Lolo National Forest and when I stepped over a log I stepped right into a bees next. They chased me all the way down to Rock Creek, where I dove into the too shallow river and got banged up on the rocks. I received 60-70 stings, mostly concentrated on my wrist and neck. I was fortunate not to have a reaction, but a few years ago I was stung by a yellow jacket and had to drive to the hospital as my throat started to close shut. The docs said that the more you're stung the more likely you are to get an allergy (so much for the Dread Pirate Roberts and building up his immunity to Iocaine Powder!) and the multiple stings years earlier probably did it. Now I have to carry an Epi-Pen with me.
Oh, yeah and what Tinbasher said. Use a knife edge or if you don't have a knife on you (Ha!) then you can use the edge of a credit card to scrape the stinger away. The poison sack is ripped out with the stinger and if you use tweazers then it injects the rest of the venom into you.
