slamdog
New member
This trip had been planned for a while, and was rain or shine. And boy did it rain. Wardy and I headed in Fri eve just after the downpour moved through. We knew there were bees on the trail, but after talking to a guy at the trailhead, determined that they were closer to the Blueberry LT. We were wrong. About 35 mins from the trailhead I got swarmed by them. Trying to get away I stumbled and went down a few times all the while swatting everything I could. As close as we can determine, I got hit about 15 times. Now, during the tumbling show I put on trying to get away, my backpack, poles, hat, and glasses were somewhere back in the dark. Wardy tried getting the pack, but he said there were thousands(?) of bee's swarming on it. We gave it a few minutes and went back covered in full rain gear and bandana face cover. Ward got my pack, poles and hat, but no glasses. I chewed up some Benedryl (expired 4/97) and we went back up to look for the glasses. I have no idea how or why, but for some reason I turned my headlamp on and looked to the left (about 20' from the crash site) and sitting in the grass were my glasses. (Could it have been the trail crew?) Onward. Arrived at the Ward Brook LT just in time for it to start pouring. Well, the forecast is for clearing as the weekend goes on. Surely, the sun gods will shine on us.
It poured all night. Got up and headed up Seymour in an effort to bushwack across the Oluska Pass and do the Sewards. We reached the summit in about 1:45 to some great views of fog. The clouds were so thick that you could see them moving by you on the summit. At this point, we decided to bag the Oluska pass as it would have been on 100% compass and gps skills. We headed back down, grabbed a quick sandwich at the LT and headed staright for the Sewards. Turned onto the trail from the truck trail at 11:25 just as it started to rain nicely. We had no more than crossed the brook and I heard Wardy who was behind me, screaming bloody murder. He got nailed by yet another group of bees. Got a real good one near the eye that looked for a moment that it might swell the whole eye shut. Luckily, it didn't. Arrived at the summit of Seward at 2:30. In the pouring rain. Thankfully, there were excellent views of the fog and clouds that literally enveloped your body. But, as we reacalled, the weather is going to clear as the weekend goes on. Now Seward took us an hour longer than we anticipated. We knew that we'd be cutting it close to dark, but rocked on. Shortly after heading to Donaldson we ran into some guys we spoke to the night before from Blueberry LT. One of them got whacked 6 times from the bee/s on the way up. They then informed us that it was about an hour between peaks, while we anticipated an hour to get to Emmons. I often say, there's a fine line between ignorance and stupidity. This is when we crossed that line. Although I had some difficulty with statistics and calculas, I was able to determine that we had a long way to go and wouldn't be down the mountain until after 10:00PM. The pouring rain continued. We were completely soaked through at this point. The winds were picking up a little as well. We hit the summits of Donaldson and Emmons and rocked as fast as we could back. We hit Seward again, it was about 7:00, had a nice wind, heavy rain and fog as thick as it could be working on our side.
We were now in headlamps and could only see a few feet ahead of us. Due to all the rain, we had bagged our eyeglasses long ago. The fog was so thick that with your headlamp on it looked the same as when you put your brights on in a snowstorm. We got on and off the trail for the next couple of hours until we hit the brook. That held some measure of hope as we knew now we would get down. We made it to the truck trail and back to the LT at 10:30. To add insult to injury, we had to go pump water for dinner (and drinks). Immediately got changed into some dry fleece. I am not sure if I have ever felt that relieved to have dry warm clothes on again. We had both begun shivering at that point. Settled down to some hot chili and a cocktail while we kept remarking that we were extremely lucky to say the least. Slept in, for obvious reasons, and finally packed up about 11:00 to head out to Coreys. When we got to the bees nest we headed up into the woods off the trail and got by without incident. Got to the trailhead about 1:45 just in time to see our shadows (first of the weekend) from the sun that had peaked out. As we had said, the weather is going to clear over the weekend. Went into Tupper for the biggest burger I've had. Wardy headed to the laundrymat to wash and dry some things. He was then going to bushnell falls lean to begin Tabletop, Haystack, Basin and Saddleback over Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night he's driving down to the Upper Works and he'll do Couchie on Wednesday. That will get him to 42, and I had hit 42 this past weekend. Only Cliff, Redifeld, Gray and Skylight remain. I doubt that will be next weekend, but the first weekend in October looks pretty good to finish things up. And the bee stings? I hit the Rite Aid in Tupper and have been pounding the oral and topical Benedryl. Most areas just itch and are swollen, but the leg has blistered up and is still significanlty swollen. Maybe a good reason to go back to bed, and skip work today. Hmmmm.... As we always say, another great weekend in the daks! Slamdog (on behalf of Wardy!)
It poured all night. Got up and headed up Seymour in an effort to bushwack across the Oluska Pass and do the Sewards. We reached the summit in about 1:45 to some great views of fog. The clouds were so thick that you could see them moving by you on the summit. At this point, we decided to bag the Oluska pass as it would have been on 100% compass and gps skills. We headed back down, grabbed a quick sandwich at the LT and headed staright for the Sewards. Turned onto the trail from the truck trail at 11:25 just as it started to rain nicely. We had no more than crossed the brook and I heard Wardy who was behind me, screaming bloody murder. He got nailed by yet another group of bees. Got a real good one near the eye that looked for a moment that it might swell the whole eye shut. Luckily, it didn't. Arrived at the summit of Seward at 2:30. In the pouring rain. Thankfully, there were excellent views of the fog and clouds that literally enveloped your body. But, as we reacalled, the weather is going to clear as the weekend goes on. Now Seward took us an hour longer than we anticipated. We knew that we'd be cutting it close to dark, but rocked on. Shortly after heading to Donaldson we ran into some guys we spoke to the night before from Blueberry LT. One of them got whacked 6 times from the bee/s on the way up. They then informed us that it was about an hour between peaks, while we anticipated an hour to get to Emmons. I often say, there's a fine line between ignorance and stupidity. This is when we crossed that line. Although I had some difficulty with statistics and calculas, I was able to determine that we had a long way to go and wouldn't be down the mountain until after 10:00PM. The pouring rain continued. We were completely soaked through at this point. The winds were picking up a little as well. We hit the summits of Donaldson and Emmons and rocked as fast as we could back. We hit Seward again, it was about 7:00, had a nice wind, heavy rain and fog as thick as it could be working on our side.
We were now in headlamps and could only see a few feet ahead of us. Due to all the rain, we had bagged our eyeglasses long ago. The fog was so thick that with your headlamp on it looked the same as when you put your brights on in a snowstorm. We got on and off the trail for the next couple of hours until we hit the brook. That held some measure of hope as we knew now we would get down. We made it to the truck trail and back to the LT at 10:30. To add insult to injury, we had to go pump water for dinner (and drinks). Immediately got changed into some dry fleece. I am not sure if I have ever felt that relieved to have dry warm clothes on again. We had both begun shivering at that point. Settled down to some hot chili and a cocktail while we kept remarking that we were extremely lucky to say the least. Slept in, for obvious reasons, and finally packed up about 11:00 to head out to Coreys. When we got to the bees nest we headed up into the woods off the trail and got by without incident. Got to the trailhead about 1:45 just in time to see our shadows (first of the weekend) from the sun that had peaked out. As we had said, the weather is going to clear over the weekend. Went into Tupper for the biggest burger I've had. Wardy headed to the laundrymat to wash and dry some things. He was then going to bushnell falls lean to begin Tabletop, Haystack, Basin and Saddleback over Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night he's driving down to the Upper Works and he'll do Couchie on Wednesday. That will get him to 42, and I had hit 42 this past weekend. Only Cliff, Redifeld, Gray and Skylight remain. I doubt that will be next weekend, but the first weekend in October looks pretty good to finish things up. And the bee stings? I hit the Rite Aid in Tupper and have been pounding the oral and topical Benedryl. Most areas just itch and are swollen, but the leg has blistered up and is still significanlty swollen. Maybe a good reason to go back to bed, and skip work today. Hmmmm.... As we always say, another great weekend in the daks! Slamdog (on behalf of Wardy!)
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