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  1. #1
    Registered User sbennett's Avatar
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    Default Albert Mountain---Beware!!!

    Just got back from a nice overnight in the Standing Indian area of the AT. I wanted to let everyone know, and this may have been mentioned before, that there is a massive yellow jacket nest about .2 miles south of the summit of Albert Mountain.

    I had the headphones in trying to power up the mountain when I looked down and saw about 50 yellow jackets erupt out of the ground. The ensuing jolt of adrenaline aided me greatly in getting up to the top, but alas, I still got stung.

    So anyway, if you're going near there maybe the bypass trail is a good option. There are several entries about this in the Big Spring Shelter register but someone should really note this in the Carter Gap Shelter if anyone has a chance.
    "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."

    - Thoreau

  2. #2
    Registered User Skidsteer's Avatar
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    Clever.

    That's a perfect place to ambush humans because it's so steep.

    All part of the Animal Conspiracy.
    Skids

    Insanity: Asking about inseams over and over again and expecting different results.
    Albert Einstein, (attributed)

  3. #3
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    I walked down the Albert Mtn. last Saturday without incident.

    However, I was stung on the ankle at Crowders Mtn. the Sunday before.

    And stung on the leg a couple weeks before that in the Smokies.

    It's not safe out there. The yellow jackets ARE out to get us.

    Skids, I'm glad you warned us about the Conspiracy. I was almost tricked by one of the spies today. One of the guys at work found a baby squirrel today. I tried to talk him into giving it to me to raise, but he says he's going to raise it. It's small enough it needs to be bottle fed.

    Awful to think that I might have had a inter-species spy right in my home.

    But, evil though it may be, it was awfully cute.
    Last edited by Marta; 08-22-2008 at 19:36.
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  4. #4
    Registered User sbennett's Avatar
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    Default

    There are evil, that's for sure. I think I'm going to have nightmares about seeing them fly out of that hole towards me. The scary part was that I only two places to go, straight up or straight down---a very helpless feeling.
    "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."

    - Thoreau

  5. #5

    Default Talk about this being one more reason...

    To start really EARLY from Amicalola if you're thruhiking NOBO. Those little ****s should all be in hibernation when I come through there next year.
    Late February wasn't good enough last time; a short warm spell let them come out near either Blue Mountain shelter (I think, possible Tray Mtn. shelter) and harass anyone trying to use the privy during daylight hours. I'll see how early Feb./late Jan works this time...

    BTW, I'm surprised no one has burned out that nest. Take up a collection of fuel alcohol from half a dozen or so hikers, and have a brave volunteer with good night vision pay the nest a 2:00 A.M. visit with the alcohol and a stick from a campfire with a decent glowing coal on one end, problem solved.

  6. #6
    ECHO ed bell's Avatar
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    Yellow jackets are sinister for sure. One thing I did learn about them from my long career of outdoor work is that when they are not in attack/ swarm mode they are harmless. If you can spot the hole in the ground before creating the disturbance to piss them off they will simply fly in and out of their hole and ignore everything going on around them. Usually what sets them off is hard vibrations very close to their hole or log the live in. Once that happens, they will ALL be after you.
    That's my dog, Echo. He's a fine young dog.

  7. #7
    Registered User sbennett's Avatar
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    I was sort of wondering why no one had done anything about it yet, but I think that area has been sort of bereft of visitors as of late. I spent last night alone at Carter Gap Shelter and there were only a handful of entries in the register from this month. The same conclusion could be reached by reading the Big Spring Shelter register as well.

    If anyone knows who maintains this section of trail, I guess we could let them know?

    PS, MS I've got to hike with you sometime, you sound like you're into some fun things....
    "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."

    - Thoreau

  8. #8
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    I think there are hundreds and hundreds of yellow jacket nests along the AT in NC. Maybe thousands. As I was walking along last weekend, I saw plenty of innocuous-looking holes with a yellow jacket or two loitering nearby. I don't think it's possible to destroy all the nests. Their ill temper reaches a crescendo in September, then they settle back down a bit. This fall they seem meaner than usual--the drought, possibly?

    The good news is that skunks dig into the holes to eat the larvae. I think bears might go after them, too.
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  9. #9
    ECHO ed bell's Avatar
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    I'm a live and let live kind of guy. Eliminating yellow jacket nests out in the middle of the woods is a pretty tall order. Better to tread carefully and keep your awareness up. Especially from Summer to mid-Fall. Its been my experience that they are at their worst in Sept./ Oct. down here in the Southeast.
    That's my dog, Echo. He's a fine young dog.

  10. #10

    Default Yes, that's my understanding as well, Marta...

    Quote Originally Posted by Marta View Post
    I
    The good news is that skunks dig into the holes to eat the larvae. I think bears might go after them, too.
    That is, that bears can eat YJ larvae. In a book I have on bear attacks, a grizzly was found dead from innumerable YJ stings received while digging up a nest for just that reason. (The anecdote was in the book to show the incredible pain tolerance large bears have.)

  11. #11
    ECHO ed bell's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by minnesotasmith View Post
    That is, that bears can eat YJ larvae. In a book I have on bear attacks, a grizzly was found dead from innumerable YJ stings received while digging up a nest for just that reason. (The anecdote was in the book to show the incredible pain tolerance large bears have.)
    I've seen a dug up nest in the Middle Prong Wilderness near the BRP in NC. The reason I heard that bears will dig them up is that their fur is so thick that it's almost impossible for the yellow jackets to get their stingers to the actual skin level. Don't know if that is the reality of it, but it seems to make sense.
    That's my dog, Echo. He's a fine young dog.

  12. #12

    Default

    I don't think I hit a nest since I didn't see a swarm but in mid-October '04 on a section hike near Hot Springs, a YJ somehow got under my watchband. I instinctively reached for the area of the sudden sting without knowing what it was and promptly broke the pin on the watchband yanking it off. I was pretty wary the rest of the hike down to Winding Stair Gap but no further encounters, probably because most of the subsequent weather was rainy & dreary.

  13. #13
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    BTW, I've carried Benadryl with me on hikes for the past few years--after a major yellow jacket entanglement several Septembers ago.

    One of my occasional hiking partners from Charlotte has recently become extremely allergic to yellow jacket and wasp stings. She now carries an Epi-Pen, but her doctor advised her that if she gets stung, take Benadryl first. If, after the Benadryl, she continues to have a reaction to the sting, use the Epi-Pen.
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  14. #14
    Registered User rainmaker's Avatar
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    Y'all need to be real careful around yellow jacket nests. They can be like the tip of an iceberg. Dr. Mike Hood, entomologist from Clemson U. showed me a picture of a nest near Summerville, SC that filled up the interior of an abandoned 56 Chevy. The prevailing thought is that with warming temperatures they do not go completely dormant. This particular colony was thought to have multiple queens and possibly as many as a million workers. Tread lightly.

  15. #15

    Default I'm not so unusual, sbennett, at least among scientists...

    Quote Originally Posted by sbennett View Post
    I
    PS, MS I've got to hike with you sometime, you sound like you're into some fun things....
    Most scientists and other geeks/nerds go through a phase (college-age or younger) when they had, uh, "recreation" that the BATF and/or local FD would not have approved of. Just BC we usually stop doing that sort of thing as we get older doesn't mean we forget how it was done. I know at least 3 people (with careers and normal lives) who can still tell you from memory the formula for black powder gunpowder, or how to make nitroglycerin (the active ingredient in dynamite)...

  16. #16
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    Shame on all of you that want to kill this creature. It’s part of the natural environment and you should assimilate yourself into the environment, not want to go on a killing rampage.

  17. #17
    Registered User Skidsteer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob S View Post
    Shame on all of you that want to kill this creature. It’s part of the natural environment and you should assimilate yourself into the environment, not want to go on a killing rampage.
    Right.

    Now shut up and pass the wasp spray.
    Last edited by Skidsteer; 08-22-2008 at 23:07.
    Skids

    Insanity: Asking about inseams over and over again and expecting different results.
    Albert Einstein, (attributed)

  18. #18
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    I don’t understand, killing a wasp (actually hundreds of them) good.

    Killing a mouse in a shelter bad.

    Killing a bear that is attacking you bad.



    Why is it OK to kill one thing but bad to kill the other?

  19. #19

    Talking

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob S View Post
    I don’t understand, killing a wasp (actually hundreds of them) good.

    Killing a mouse in a shelter bad.

    Killing a bear that is attacking you bad.



    Why is it OK to kill one thing but bad to kill the other?
    Cause, as any good hiker would say...."it's either us or them!"
    Moses

  20. #20

    Default It's not bad, Bob...

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob S View Post
    I don’t understand, killing a wasp (actually hundreds of them) good.

    Killing a mouse in a shelter bad.

    Killing a bear that is attacking you bad.



    Why is it OK to kill one thing but bad to kill the other?
    All those creatures listed need killing. Some people get confused about where humans are on the food chain (vegetarians, PETA/ALF types, 3rd-graders who heard a Greenpeacer talk in front of their class with no fact-checking rebuttal, etc.). I have no such mental difficulty. An animal that threatens a human or his property on a hiking trail tries and convicts itself; the only question is imposition of sentence...

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