PA MILITARY MUSEUM

Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022

The Sentinel JUNIATA VALLEY MAGAZINE

Stinging trail adventure Xane Whitesel

When I was about 5 or 6 years old I had an interesting day with my grandparents, Roger and Grace Whitesel.

I remember that the day was sometime during the summer months when it was warm, the air smelled of flowers and pollen, and the bees were out. My grandparents were going to take my sister Kennedi and I on a hike up the Whitesel Trail, which is located right around Guss Park back on Licking Creek Road.

Now I do have a little sister named Mariska, but at the time she was too little to be doing any hiking, so my older sister Kennedi who was about eight years old at the time and I went with my grandparents on the hike.

I remember my grandparents pulling up to our house. My sister and I gave my mom a kiss, and then were off with my grandparents to Guss Park.

Once we arrived and got out of the car I could feel the warm sun on my skin. It was a beautiful day. I vividly remember walking to the trail, and seeing the sign that boldly said “Whitesel Trail.” After looking at the sign for a minute we all began our journey up the trail.

Now the trail was up a mountain so we were all walking uphill to start. While we were walking uphill I felt a sharp pain under my shirt on my chest. I lifted up my shirt and saw a yellow jacket crawling on my skin. I screamed and instantly told my grandparent what had happened.

Then we all started getting stung. Every one of us, so we bolted up the trail and got out of there as quickly as possible.

It appeared that there were yellow jacket nests all throughout the ground of the trail about half way up. We were all stung and hurting at that point. Every little thing I felt on me like a branch touching my back, to a mini gust of wind I assumed was a yellow jacket.

Now we still had to get back down the trail to the car. The one problem was that we had to get past the yellowjacket nests once again. My grandparents came up with a plan. My Pappy would carry and run each one of us down past the yellowjackets and to the car.

My sister went first. My Pappy picked her up and ran her down. After a little bit they disappeared out of sight. My grandma waited with me at the top for my grandfather to return. I remember lifting my shirt up and seeing another yellowjacket. I swatted it off and ran closer to my grandma.

A few minutes later my pappy returned. He grabbed me, then ran me down with my grandmother following behind. Once we got to the car we all drove home.

I will never forget this story for as long as I’m alive. Although we got stung a lot that day overall it was a good day, because I got to spend time with my grandparents.

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