Brown Recluse - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

Be Careful Out There! Someone from the ATC office reported a possible brown recluse spider bite at Davenport Gap, north of GSMNP.

A thru hiker, David Dayton, submitted an incident report to the ATC office that he was bitten by a spider on the AT at Davenport Gap. David came off the trail to seek medical attention. A doctor cut the bite open, treated the wound and David was off the trail for 10 days while recovering. He says he suspects the arachnid “to be a brown recluse; however, all signs didn’t give conclusive evidence to be clear”.

I don’t know if hikers can protect themselves from such a fate, but it at least serves to illustrate how we share the trails with dangerous creatures and should view our encounters with nature with a note of caution.

Bilko

#2

Those are nasty little spiders and don’t really get the respect they deserve. A lady I know got bitten multiple times in a rental cabin by one that was lurking in the bedding. Yuck!

Prospector

#3

It would be extremely rare to find a brown recluse spider at Davenport Gap as this is outside their range. They live almost 100 % in Texas,Oklahoma, Kansas & Mississippi. They do not range north into North Carolina.
If a doctor had to ‘cut the bite open’ to treat it, the guy would have been off the trail for a lot longer than 10 days the wound would be in need of debriedment and skin grafting.

Spiders almost NEVER bite more than once.

Spiders are great for our environment, they eat lots of other bugs, but they sure get a bad rap!

np

#4

A brown recluse will always get a bad rap from me—with a big stick!:eek:

Spiderman

#5

I’m told by doctors that we have them in Interior Alaska–the brown recluse spider.

Conan

Conan

#6

Davenport Gap is by no means outside the range of a brown recluse spider. We had a healthy population of recluses that would reside on Christmas tree farms in northern Michigan. It was not unusual to have tree trimmers bit every year. Northern Michigan is supposed to be outside the range of black widows as well but they hang around in very limited numbers. A spider will bite multiple times if it is trapped, like rolling over on one or having one in your clothing.

Prospector

#7

Both my boss and myself have been bitten kayaking on Jordan Lake in Chatham county, NC.

Tim

#8

I was bitten by a brown recluse, she lives in an old shack about a 1/2 mile from me through the woods

Virginian

#9

it at least serves to illustrate how we share the trails with
dangerous creatures
and should view our encounters with nature with a note of caution.

Danger? There’s never been a single confirmed death caused by this animal. The most dangerous species on this planet is Homo sapiens. Name the creatures, brown recluse, rattler, black bear, whatever, add up all the deaths caused by them. Multiply that figure by hundreds of thousands or millions to arrive at the number of fatalities caused by Homo sapiens annually. This absurd and illogical fear of nature is what gets people asking if you need to carry guns on the AT. It also serves as subliminal rationale for the destruction of wilderness, since Nature is viewed as fundamentally foreign and dangerous. Trust me, none of you will die from a spider bite, no chance, nor will you be seriously injured, you have nothing to fear. I’m surprised to see such ignorance in this forum.

Brian Osborne

#10

Spiders are animals? Hum, I don’t think any of the above posts mentioned anyting about being afraid of nature. Having people be cautious or aware of potential dangers in an area is not ignorance.

Xman

#11

We found brown recluse in a cheap motel in Elk Park, NC in '02 on our thru hike.

I got bitten by one in 1970 and was sick for two weeks. I thought my left forearm was going to rot off. I don’t want to ever go through that again. I was helping a friend clean out an old garage on his farm and the morning a small blister came up on my arm and within 24 hours it was about the size of half dollar. As the old folks say, “I festered up something terrible!” I was in the bed for several days with a high fever and a swollen arm. The doc just gave me antibiotics and told me to keep the wound clean.

If young and healthty no problem.

In response to Brian, the only thing we ever feared on the trail was the road walking in traffic and hitch hiking.

Papa Smurf

#12

Nobody ever said that you needed to fear nature, But if you dont respect it and learn from it then you will be the ignorant one in the woods. Yes Brain oh I mean Brian I agree that humans are the most dangerous things out there Maybe to prove your point you should let a blackwidow bite you,swim with sharks or maybe just chow down on some poison ivy.

Virginian