Hiked up to Jones Peak on a nice cool morning. Decided to bring the loppers along too. Pics from the peak.
Trimmed some low hanging branches on this trip, mostly on the way down. Just below the saddle, though, I apparently stirred up some bees when I trimmed some branches. I didn't hear or see any bees, but a hiker above me got stung and cussed me out when he caught up with me further down the trail, blaming me for his bee stings and any deaths that may occur if an allergic person got stung.
I asked if he needed help (his wife answered no) and said I had not seen or heard any bees. I apologized for stirring up the bees, if in fact I had (*). I didn't do any more trimming after that and I warned everyone that I passed on my way down of the bees. Everyone was appreciative of the warning.
* I feel bad if in fact I stirred up the bees. I find it odd that I didn't hear or see any bees. The hiker and his wife had their dog with them (on leash) - could the dog have riled up the bees? In any case, I'm not sure what I could have done about this other than to not do any casual trail maintenance. Obviously if I had seen the hive I'd have steered clear of it. Do I need to post signs? This isn't frigging Disneyland after all.
On a side note...
FOR SALE: Fiskar Loppers - cheap!
Jones Peak & bees: 09-19-2010
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cougarmagic
- Posts: 1409
- Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 5:21 pm
That's pretty ridiculous.HikeUp wrote:blaming me for his bee stings and any deaths that may occur if an allergic person got stung.
I find it hard to believe that you could stir up a bee hive without noticing it or getting stung yourself. I think it's pure coincidence that you were doing trail maintenance when this other guy got stung. Tell him that he's in the backcountry, what do you expect?
Yeah. I understand he was the one that was stung by the bees, but I think even his wife rolled her eyes at that last bit.cougarmagic wrote:That's pretty ridiculous.HikeUp wrote:blaming me for his bee stings and any deaths that may occur if an allergic person got stung.
Use the loppers for some other kind of maintenance.HikeUp wrote: I didn't hear or see any bees, but a hiker above me got stung and cussed me out when he caught up with me further down the trail, blaming me for his bee stings and any deaths that may occur if an allergic person got stung.
