[pct-l] Natural Insect Repellents/ Bug Head Nets/A16 Bivy/Clothing- other ideas?

[Brian Lewis]

Gary Said:  "I tried very hard during my AT thru to resist the cumulative
effect of using DEET or any commercial or natural insect repellent."


Since you're talking about *cumulative* effect, I assume then that you're
talking about this only in the context of doing a fairly long trip.   So the
hiker in question hopefully gets up-to-speed and strong before major bug
swarms are encountered.  In that case, I think the best solution is to just
keep moving --- an up-to-speed thru-hiker can keep going and going like the
energizer bunny, barring particularly tough terrain or foot problems or
something like that.   In general, bugs of whatever sort don't seem to
bother me nearly as much if I just keep moving at a fairly brisk pace.

I agree with what you said about buzzing around your ears at night even with
a head net on, so in heavy bug country I like to have an enclosed (light)
tent --- it really helps my sanity to have an enclosed space to retreat
to.   Spend little (but efficient) time in camp out of the tent, spend most
camp time in the tent, then just keep moving almost all the time during the
day.    I found that even on the worst days I could generally find (just
sort of notice I was in) a relatively bug free zone in the early afternoon
so I never felt compelled to put up my tent in order to eat lunch.

When the bugs are really, really bad the swarm can just follow and keep up
with you.  At least in 2008 I didn't find this to be very common, but it did
happen.  That's when I used the deet, and I certainly agree on the value of
a headnet.  I'm also a person that hikes in long pants and long sleeves all
the time, so that helped; ditto the "french foreign legion" style hat with
the Ferengi-type neck flap.   The overall result was that I used relatively
little deet thru-hiking last year.

Of course others use different strategies, the above is just what I found to
work well for me.


Brian Lewis / Gadget '08
http://postholer.com/brianle