Bumble Bee

Posted on February 18, 2007 in Creatures Hiking

The stick felt unusually sturdy given that it was the central shaft of an Our Lord’s Candle — a species of [[yucca]]. Whoever had tossed it along the path was gone. Lynn and I had taken a short walk up Harding Canyon, towards an enigmatic waterfall well beyond the hours we’d given ourselves for the task. Today we located the path and marked it according to an ancient custom of [[Cairn|trail signing]]: three rocks in a vertical pile. I was tired after the short scramble, so I picked the stick up, tried it, and used it as I crept up to a low saddle.

I noticed a buzzing sound after I’d hit it on the path a couple of times. “Listen” I said to Lynn. The buzzing came from the center of the shaft. I kept going, noticing now and then that a [[bumble bee]] whizzed by.

I was at the top of the saddle before I realized that the bees had not come looking for the stick, but had been inside of it. An inspection revealed a half-inch circle bored about nine inches from the bottom. I hadn’t been the one to steal their home in the first place, but I had evicted the last five of them.

“I don’t worry about bumble bees,” I said to Lynn. “You can shake one about in your hand and it won’t sting unless it is deranged.”

That was the day of it. We descended on the other side, found our car at the Modjeska Wildlife Sanctuary, and went home.