NorthWest Arkansas Cachers

Had a little incident and I figured I'd just repost my DNF log for GC1CTK7 Graffiti Bridge here:

"This one caused me a little grief. I tried to be stealthy because lots of muggles were out swimming, tubing and fishing on both sides of the bridge. After 5-10 min of searching where my GPSr said GZ was I started to expand my search. I suspected the guard rail so I peered down it looking for anything stuck in there. About 30 feet down (away from the bridge) I saw something stuck in between the metal rail and the support. I moved closer to get a better look and thought it looked like a baggey of some sort from a distance. I walked right up behind it and stuck my hand in to pull whatever it was out. I felt it crumble a little between my fingers and then...FIRE!!! My finger was burning! It was not a baggey, it was a NEST of some sort (Bee/hornet/wasp, I didn't get a look and have no idea) and I got a couple bad stings for sticking my fingers right into it! As soon as it happened I jumped back like a maniac and made a run for the car (not knowing if a swarm of some kind was about to emerge). I hadn't had a sting in years and had forgotten how badly they could hurt. It felt like it was burning the first 20 minutes and now is just red/inflammed and hurts to touch. I gave up my cache run after this one and returned home to apply some antibiotics. I have to say this was my worst DNF experience."

Though I've done so many times in the past, from now on I'm not sticking my fingers anywhere that I can't see into.

Sorry for the stings.. bet it did hurt being on the fingers. I've already had my close calls this summer with snakes, and am real cautious now. Always beat the bushes and thump the rocks. Hope your hand gets better.

This part of the country is not a good place to be sticking your hands into unknown places, for sure.

If it hurt like heck it was probably big fat red wasps. I got attached from behind as I was walking in my door at home. I am carrying wasp spray in my geo bag now. Had to leave a cache unfound because I could see a big wasp nest full of them about 6 inches from the cache. Sorry about your stings.

Sounds like you were very lucky! That could of gone much worse. I think I'd be thankful it was only a wasp sting(s) of some kind. Anyone noticed all of those Cicada Killers out this year? Be careful around those. They're deadly. You can't miss them, they're black and yellow and HUGE. I've been told that a single sting can take down a full grown cow, might be a bit far fetched...I don't really know.