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Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2008: Bikepacking in Henry Coe State Park / Day 7: Pacheco Camp to China Hole by bicycle, Henry Coe State Park /

I go outside the tent for a moment barefoot (which I usually never do) and step on a yellowjacket: instant sting

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00512-yellow-jacket-sting-8.jpg I set up camp on the flat gravelly spot next to the China Hole Trail crossing of the dry creekThumbnailsI set up camp on the flat gravelly spot next to the China Hole Trail crossing of the dry creekThumbnailsI set up camp on the flat gravelly spot next to the China Hole Trail crossing of the dry creekThumbnailsI set up camp on the flat gravelly spot next to the China Hole Trail crossing of the dry creekThumbnailsI set up camp on the flat gravelly spot next to the China Hole Trail crossing of the dry creekThumbnails

This might be just painful for some, but I'm very allergic to wasps and am fearing a dangerous reaction. I take a benadryl and stab myself with one of the epinephrine syringes that I carry in case of this sort of emergency, and I survive.

The needle turns out to be painless (I'm not even sure if it's in me when I inject myself). After an hour of worrying, I'm happy to notice that I'm not getting sick or feeling any signs of anaphylactic shock. Those wasp-venom desensitization shots I've been getting over the past eight months have helped!

I feel like it's safe to try eating, so I prepare my last instant backpacking meal of the trip and enjoy it.

No ducks down here like there were at Paradise Lake, but during the evening I've been hearing jays squawking, coyotes yipping, crickets singing and all sorts of unidentifiable noises in the brush. I even saw a few bats earlier.

I take another Benadryl for its anti-inflammatory effect before going to sleep, happy that my "event" seems to have passed. The only problem is that walking on my swollen foot is difficult, but I won't need to do that while enjoying my last sleep of this Henry Coe trip.