“Big Creek Hornets,” continued from page 10
moment. Visions of being trampled were heavy on my mind. The question of re- maining in the saddle or bailing was a con- sideration! The thundering
hooves, large rocks, and steep terrain renewed my efforts to stay upright and try to ride out the storm. It seemed that we rode this stam- pede for days and miles — but it really was for a minute or less and over 200 yards distance!
The wreck concluded just short of the pack bridge which was very fortunate indeed. At the tally there were four mules with packs under their bellies and loads that were hanging. The other two needed only slight adjustments. The mules did not fight the upside
down loads that were under their bellies, but waited patiently until we could get their loads and saddles off. Once one of them was taken care of and tied to a tree, we went on to the next waiting mule. Their panic was over and no injuries occurred to packers or mules. Now that they were taken care of, we sat down to access the situation and to get a breather ourselves.
Julie sorted the situation out as fol-
lows: her dogs were in the brush next to the trail when they disturbed a bald-faced hornet nest. The hornets proceeded to at- tack the three dogs and as they returned to the trail the hornets had a much larger target — the mule string. Julie got stung and could see the bald-faced hornet cloud approach the pack string. From then on it was every man and mule for himself! We were very fortunate that we had no
injuries, just a lengthy and tiring repacking job ahead of us, as well as the long jour- ney ahead.
The remainder of the trip to the lake
was uneventful, even up the sixty-step chute. The crewmembers decided that the upper end of the lake would be their head- quarters camp. We unloaded the mules, ate a quick lunch, and headed back to the trailhead. In steep mountains and in dangerous
situations, it is customary to get off and lead your animal. It’s easier on the stock and safer, too. Once we remounted we pon- dered the question of how to navigate the bald-faced hornet and yellowjacket nests on the way back. Sometimes we carry “bee spray,” but we had none on this trip.
34 ROCKY MOUNTAIN RIDER • JULY 2013 The other
obvious possibility was to go around, a tactic we have success- fully used before. That would not work this time because of the steep cliff-like terrain above and below the trail. Well, how about sending a small group through, then waiting 20-30 minutes be-
fore the next ones go through? Sure, that would work, but there wasn’t too much daylight left, and my preference is not to have a wreck in the dark!
After considering these options and
more, I settled for the “Bunch and Run” technique. In the areas of the trail that were moderately flat and straight, we practiced that very technique. We would bunch the animals as close together as possible and then trot out. It’s quite a feat to do this with nine head of stock that know what’s down the trail. We looked like the Bishop Mule Days Packers’ Scramble! If you could try to organize un- controlled chaos, this is it. After practicing this a few times, we neared the last bridge crossing Big Creek. The mules knew we were in for it as we made the last step off the bridge and hit the accelerator for the next thousand yards!
I will say that practice made perfect, just like a bootlegger’s run. Those hornets were still in bed when we were 200 yards past them. No attack! The mules went down to their four-mile-per-hour pace, but kept moving because they know those bald-faced hornets will follow you for a considerable distance.
That left only the yellowjacket bunch
to navigate. Sometimes the terrain doesn’t look exactly the same when you’re com- ing from another direction, and this was indeed the case. By the time we realized where we were, the wasps were humming and looking for man and beast. With a little trick riding and a whole
lot of luck everyone stayed mounted, al- though I can’t say that the previous order of rank and file was maintained! Oh, well, it was less than three miles to the trailhead. After unsaddling, there were lots of mules and horses with wasp sting lumps on them, same as the humans. Well, that’s the story, and I hope your
wasp experiences are less exciting and moving!
www.rockymountainrider.com RMR
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