So we went on a little hike on one of our favorite trails: 5 kids from 2 to 12, 3 adults. Caitlyn, who is 10, was ahead when she suddenly screamed, turned, and ran towards us, having been stung on the butt. She's allergic, so she was pretty terrified. Then little Josie, who was on my shoulders, screamed and so did my wife, Toni. Toni quickly reversed direction and shouted RUN!! And headed back to the car. The dog yelped as he got stung. My wife shrieked that she was getting multiple stings.

Anne and I took a few seconds to react because we hadn't seen a swarm of wasps in California before on a popular trail. But then I noticed them coming out of the ground on the trail. We all started running as fast as we could while the wasps pursued us. Anne was kicking them off my legs and brushing a dozen or so off my back as we ran and I was doing the same for her and the little kids.

The wasps chased us the whole half mile and into the car, and stung us in the car. I got six stings. This is from a sting on the back of my bicep that caused swelling down almost to my watch band:

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The kids say it's as if I have elephantiasis. This is from one that tagged my lip a year or two ago, and I thought it indicated I was allergic, but my wife got similar swelling from her six stings as I did:

photos.smugmug.com

👆 That sting was from a single (wasp? bee?) while I was riding my bike. I didn't know about wasps like these that pursue and swarm you as you run down the trail.

How quickly and unexpectedly things change when you least expect it.

Have you seen the 2015 movie Mr. Holmes with Ian McKellen? Wasps play a role in the movie.

I won't say more about wasps in case you have not seen it but in the movie the detective is old and is having problems with his memory.

I know you've also been stung by bees during trail runs as well. At least per my dad. It seems like wasps/bees always seem to find you! Hopefully you guys recover fast!

Wow! What a story.

You will laugh about this in a couple months, after a few beers with your mates - so it must have been an adventure......

Adventures are rarely fun when you're living through them though..

I hope the kids weren't too traumatized.

Ice, Advil, and benadryl will help ( assuming you aren't allergic to them) . Epinephrine if you really need it.

A few weeks ago our back yard was swarmed with hundreds of wasps flying just above the grass - but when we walked through the swarm they just parted and ignored us - never saw anything like it - my spouse found them on the web after we photographed them to identify them - the blue winged wasp Scolia dubia

Blue winged wasp, Scolia dubia-is a real asset!Have you seen this wasp flying over the landscape about 12extension.psu.edu

It sounds you you met up with some yellowjacket wasps, from your description of their behavior

YellowjacketYellowjacket or yellowjacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genera and Dolichovespula . Members of these genera are known simply as " wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of these are black and yellow like the eastern yellowjacket Vespula maculifrons and the aerial yellowjacket Dolichovespula arenaria ; some are black and white like the bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata.en.wikipedia.org

Yes, yellowjacket wasps! My daughter identified them as they were attacking. I see yellowjackets often hanging around water fountains, etc., and they were never aggressive. Anne guesses they thought we were attacking their nest. Maybe the dog or one of us stepped on it.

My wife called the city of Los Altos and they were so nice about it. They asked exactly where it was and then they dispatched a crew. They called today to say they found it and took care of it, whatever that means.

Today, standing under a flowering tree and talking to Anne, we suddenly both noticed a loud buzzing like we heard during the attack and looked up to see hundreds of bees buzzing around our tree. We both gingerly left the area. But it turns out we have a zillion bees in our yard all the time, I just was never sensitive to the background buzzing noise before this wasp incident.

I guess they have their seasons and triggers. This year I had several nests built around my home, and some got to the point where they started defending the location so I could no longer go on my back patio.. Until I found and used this

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And they say Australia has the bad critters🤪

Crap. Hiking today in Muir Woods and the kids got freaked out by this sign.

...

Yellowjacket stings have caused fatalities. Our youngest son happened across a nest in the ground in our north Georgia backyrard woods when he was 5 or 6; they swarmed all over him, stinging him over 20 times. He didn't know which way to run, just screamed and jumped around. I darted in and grabbed him and ran away, getting 6 or 7 stings in the process. After that he became allergic and reacts badly to even a single sting. Now, as an adult, he keeps an epi-pen handy anytime he is working or playing outdoors. My Grandfather was a beekeeper, and my Dad and I had a couple of hives when I was growing up. I like bees (and honey!); but Yellowjackets are a menance!

Andbow we have MURDER HORNETS.

Study: Giant murder hornets could invade entire region if left uncheckedPULLMAN, Wash. - A new study has found that the Asian giant hornet, or "murder hornet," which first appeared in Washington in 2019, could invade all of western Washington and Oregon if left unchecked, decimating local honeybee populations and threatening crops that rely on pollination.komonews.com

'Murder Hornets' don't sound like fun at all.

When I was living in Kenya, I got stung in the belly by a thing that looked a bit like someone had taken two yellowjackets (which at home we just call wasps) and made them a bit bigger, then cut the head off of one and the sting off of the other and joined them in the middle with a little stick. It had two distinct body parts, two sets of wings, loads of legs, I've never managed to identify it but then I haven't looked very hard recently.

It was pretty awful and a bit scary though, a whole section of my belly was swollen, red, hot and hard for literally a couple of weeks. I was never allergic to stings before but I am mildly allergic since then.

I've never seen wasps swarming like that, but we got caught in a bee swarm in Zambia. Clearly it was a not unknown thing to happen because you could hear them coming before you could see them and everyone seemed to know what it was. The street just cleared completely, everyone running into a building or a car. We sat in the car and watched them just fly over us, I can't imagine how many there were but it was pretty amazing,

When it comes to things that can kill you Australia can one-up the rest of the world every time.

This is this months discovery.

Spider-like venom found in Australian stinging treesResearchers have discovered 'venom-like' toxins in a plant that causes long-lasting pain.edition.cnn.com