Mountain Sting: That Awkward Moment When You Step On A Hornets Nest While Climbing a Mountain On The Run

The first time I climbed a mountain was eventful, to say the least.  It was just over a year ago, probably just a few weeks after arriving to Oregon.  We didn't have Rebel yet; we were still in the negotiations for him. Once Crazy and his crazy lady left, the tension on the property seemed to move towards us.  There had always been tension between Carl and us, more on his side than ours.  By this point, our east coast nature was really starting to rub the many of the west coast hippies we were staying with the wrong way.

We happened to be stranded in an extremely beautiful area to say the least, described as a temperate rainforest. I've said that I'm glad I was stranded there, at least the surroundings were beautiful.  There was a lot of forest with little nooks and crannys making it very easy to get away and be alone when you needed to, which was useful in a tense home situation. 

There were lots of pine, oak and maple trees and everything was extremely moist by the time we showed up.  They experience a dry season  during the summer which is when those famous Oregon fires tend to happen.  They're cyclical, to clear out the forest when it gets to be too much.  We were staying in the heart of the lumber industry in that part of Oregon.  The house we were staying in was nestled on a property in a valley, so you could see really tall gorgeous mountains just by looking outside. 

We were drawn to one particular mountaintop, much like we were here in Acapulco.  We decided first day we intended on climbing it, although it took us weeks to get around to it.  With things being tense and us wanting a bit of an escape, we decided to head up the mountain.  We packed dab supplies, water and some snacks and headed out.

And honestly, it was a lot harder than I expected.  It alternated between dense forest and burnt down forest, so you were climbing over stuff the whole time.  The ground was soft and crumbly in many places, which made the going slow.  The way we went up wasn't really dangerous, but it was hard work that took awhile.  We stopped for dabs, sex and snacks along the way, realistically taking too much time.

We approached the top right as the sun started to set.  It seemed like we would never make it to the top until we were suddenly there. Walking around a little we found a logging road, meaning we could have gotten up there by vehicle. Not a huge deal considering we didn't have a truck at that time, but it still made us laugh. 

After enjoying the view for a few minutes and pointing out the house where we were staying, we started back down, rather quickly. It was getting dark and Oregon forests are dense, we didn't want to be stuck in those woods after dark without being familiar with them. So we headed down as fast as we could in the general direction of the property. Other than the descending darkness, this was the fun part, until I stepped in the hornets nest.

We were in a burnt out section covered in logs that were once standing trees. I didn't even consider the fact that the area would be a great breeding ground for wasps, although it makes perfect sense.  All it took was one wrong footfall and I heard swarming.  I got stung by one and started screaming, much to John's dismay.  We were on government property, on the run and I decided to scream on top of a mountain like I was being killed.  

I flailed and ran from the swarm as John tried to hit them off of me. Several attached to my arm, I'm assuming having bitten me too.  Once they stopped swarming we immediately continued the descent down.  I was shaken and hurting, but alright all things considered.  I just wanted to get home and have some dabs. 

We made it back down just in the nick of time, sharing the news that I got swarmed with the people on the property.  One of the hippies said he considered warning me, but thought I already knew about the danger. I only got stung on the one arm, but it was many times.  I counted 6 welts total, I'm not sure how many were bites and how many were stings.  I was a bit worried to say the least, considering my mom was known for her famous over reactions to bees as she had a life threatening allergy to the stings.  Funny though right? A gardener afraid of bees because they very likely could kill her. 

I had allergy issues myself when I was a kid, but I had many allergy issues that had subsided over the years.  For example, as a baby and in my early childhood I was deathly allergic to the pollen from mulberry trees.   In my adulthood, I do react to the pollen but not nearly as violently.  This gave me hope that my issues from childhood with bees might have subsided too.  Considering I hadn't dropped over my throat closing on the way down, it seemed like if anything I was going to have a delayed severe reaction, which was possible.

Nothing bad happened,  although my arm and hand swelled up like no other.  I got to see what my hand would look like if I were fat and I was not a fan.  Everything was easily twice the size that it should have been and it hurt and itched like hell.  I got a lot of shit over those next few days from everyone, although I fully deserved it.  

The discomfort was pretty intensely annoying, so I was literally doing everything in my power to help it.  It started with some supposedly naturally based pharmaceuticals that Magic had.  She told me they would help and they didn't, although they didn't seem to hurt me.  I took epsom salt baths....did lots of dabs.  All I could do is wait it out.  If I remember correctly, this happened right before we got that trim job for a day, as I remember having to trim with a swollen hand.  

There were a lot of big events that happened in our on the run adventures, but there were a lot of quarky little things like this that sometimes get lost in the fray.  I look back on this memory fondly honestly, as the wasp nest was the only real hiccup.  Now that I no longer feel the pain and itchiness from the stings, it's all just a funny distant memory and a funny story to share.  It's funny how those things happen in life, isn't it?