So what's with all the hornets in Southern Oregon? Never seen so many in my life.

Last weekend, I spent time at Lake of the Woods, Mt McLoughlin, and Aspen Butte. Got stung twice. I've never seen so many hornets.

I didn't see any when I was there 2 weeks back. I lived in Klamath for 4 years (2 years ago and back) and there was never a bee problem of any sort. I'd venture to LotW plenty often as well to bike. Weird.

Now mosquitos, yeah, LotW has plenty of them. Er.

Scott,
When you use the name hornets, I wonder if you are referring to what I call yellow jackets. They are a type of wasp. I have not hiked in southern Oregon much, but live on some rural acreage just outside of Portland. Yellow jackets frequently build nest in underground tunnels built by four legged critters. I am sure I have been stung by yellow jackets at least 10 times, and have had up to to 6 or 7 stings in a single encounter on my wooded acreage. I am getting a little smarter spotting yellow jacket activity either around a hole in the ground or nest building effort under the eaves of my home. I knock down nests under home eaves with a long pole after dark when they are pretty lethargic. Yellow jackets can be a problem at a family picnic outdoors as they will aggressively zero in on a piece of meat on your plate. I guess I just tolerate them; try to spot their "hot part of the day" increased activity and give them some room. If you were doing cross country hiking, I think the chance of an encounter would be greater than a well traveled trail. I have never been stung on the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon or the Sierra Nevada in California. So maybe their is an elevation range for these pests.
Scott

It's NOT just southern Oregon .... western Washington has them during the summer months, also.

I believe the difference between hornets and yellow jackets is the nesting site.

Yellow jackets live underground, while hornets have a nest (typically) suspended off the ground in a tree.

In the Cascades you're probably talking about yellow-jackets, and they're a big problem from late August to early October. Elevation is important. Yellow-jackets are pretty rare above 5,000 feet. If you want to climb an objective that requires a lot of off-trail travel through dead-fall, I would never attempt something like that after mid-August. You'll be tempting fate, as they often like to make their nests in dead trees and in the ground near that kind of debris. I don't remember the Colorado Rockies having this kind of problem, but it's certainly a yearly issue in the Cascades. August and September have been very warm and dry, and I think that exacerbates the problem too. After the first killing frost, you're usually safe.

Yes, I agree 100 percent. The majority of bee stings I get on my wooded acreage occur when I hop over a decomposing log on a less travel ground area, and too late discover there is a hole in the ground next to the log with an active yellow jacket nest. The bees are on me before I know what is going on. Ouch!