[pct-l] Ticks / QUESTION ON TICK TROUBLE / Sawyer soak & utltrathon cream

[Don Billings]

I've had great luck with a combo technique of using a soak for my clothing manufactured by Sawyer Products ( "6 week protection" ) and also applying Ultrathon insect repellent from my ankles to my upper thighs (34.34% DEET & sweat/splash resistant = 12 hour protection). While using this combo, I've never had even one tick attach. The combo also works against mosquitos.

The problem is that I've started using nylon hiking pants by Columbia (70% ntactel nylon shell / 30% cotton lining).  I suspect that the Permithren in the Sawyer soak (or spray) does not bind well with the nylon and thus I'm not confident of the "6 weeks of protection."  The spray on my shoes / socks would still be okay, but I'm not sure about nylon pants / wiking shirt, etc. I suspect the permithrin in the soak will wash out after one wash. Maybe not even bind well enough for a full protection one time.

Anyone else use Sawyer products for tick / mosquito repellent?

I'd ask the manufacturer (Sawyer), but something tells me that I'd just get a mechanical answer rather than a genuine answer as to how the chemical binds with nylon.





----- Original Message ----
From: Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com <diane at santabarbarahikes.com>
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Sent: Sat, March 6, 2010 5:35:10 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Ticks

I did not see any ticks on the trail in 2008. I'm good at seeing  
them. I can see them hanging off the bushes waiting.

This is the tick that carries lyme disease:
http://images.google.com/images?q=western+black-legged+tick
The female has the red body and is the carrier. The male is all black  
and resembles a black sesame seed. The male is not known to carry  
lyme disease.

The regular deer tick is larger, light brown or gray, more round and  
is not known to carry lyme disease.

Still, no tick is pleasant. There's something primal and horrible  
about having an alien being latched on and embedded into you, eating  
your flesh. I've gotten them worse when wearing shorts than wearing  
pants. They don't hang on very well to nylon pants, and they can't  
figure out how to get past the zipper on zip-off pants. With shorts a  
tick was able to climb from the bottom of my shorts to my pubic hair  
and dig in near my femoral artery.

I've also had them fall from brush down my back and lodge under my  
backpack. I've also had them fall and climb into my bra and latch at  
the tip of my nipple. I've had them on my hand and my forearm, too.  
Sometimes they bite quickly and sometimes they wander around for a  
while before they settle in.

The key to finding them has been any time I find myself scratching a  
painful itchy place more than once, do a tick check. Do a tick check  
anyway of course, but the times I've written off little painful itchy  
spots as nothing they've been ticks.

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