“You look like a ghost,” remarked one of the kids in our hiking group. It was late August and we were on the Appalachian Trail between Deep Gap and Standing Indian. Except for the base layer, all of the clothing in my pack was white or khaki. It was yellow jacket season again.
Most of the hikers you see in the woods in late summer wear the popular colors sold by Patagonia, North Face, Columbia, and the other well-known brands. If you see someone wearing white, you can bet you’ve just met a beekeeper on the trail.
Honeybees and members of the wasp family generally perceive dark colors as more threatening. Bears are natural enemies of the wasp family because they destroy nests to eat the wasps and their larvae. You will never see a bear wearing white in the woods, especially after Labor Day.
Every hike we led was always preceded by “the talk,” when we laid out the rules of engagement for the particular environment we would be traversing. In August and September, that talk always included snakes, bears, feral hogs, rabid animals, and yellow jackets. “If you see yellow jackets coming out of a hole, stay calm; don’t make any sudden movements and slowly move away. If you get stung, your body is going to want to panic, but you can hike out with a sting, not so much with a sprained ankle.”
Invariably, at least once during yellow jacket season, someone would disturb a nest, and I would find myself standing calmly in my ghost outfit in the midst of screaming and flailing hikers, trying to instill some calm in the group, med kit at the ready. The camouflage and calm were so effective I was never stung, and thankfully in ten years of leading expeditions, I only needed to use an EpiPen on a hiker once.
Through painful experience, we learned that the sting kits available in drugstores are not very effective. However, if you’re fortunate enough to be stung near some jewelweed or plantain, a poultice made from these plants can quickly alleviate pain and swelling. Tobacco is even more effective, and a stale can of Prince Albert rode in my pack for years. For me, applying a slice of raw onion directly to the sting is most effective, but when backpacking, where every ounce grows heavier with every mile, carrying a bag of onions is unlikely. A few Benadryl tablets, however, can be worth their weight in gold.
It’s funny how yellow jacket nests just seem to appear out of nowhere in late August when the colonies reach their peak population. Unfortunately, that’s also the time when their food supplies start to diminish, and the scouts become interested in your sandwich and your open can of soda.
Mr. Bear and Mr. Skunk have graciously removed most of the yellow jacket nests from around our house, but there is one rather large colony at the perimeter of our trafficked area. It’s just off the beaten path, so we’ll probably leave them to their garbage collecting duties. Every element of nature is connected in a intricate network and we would be wise to tread lightly in territory we do not fully understand. Alas, wisdom is not endemic to our species.
Chances are there are more nests waiting to surprise us somewhere along the paths we take around the farm, and when I’m out piling brush or mowing, I will most certainly be wearing white, even after Labor Day.
Outside The Box 