[pct-l] Deet

[Scott Williams]

I got plenty of ticks on my legs just last week in the Orestimba Wilderness
south of San Jose.  Flicked them all off without any problem, but the
warnings for lyme disease were all over the park as you entered.  The ranger
I spoke to on entering knew of lyme cases from that area.  Two of the four
CA ticks do carry lyme.  It is not to be ignored, nor to be made paranoid
over.  Just keep an eye on yourself, and flick the little suckers off if
they grab onto your pants or skin.  If you can stand to hike in pants, (I
can't, and they always grab hold of my hairy legs) tuck them into your dirty
girls, or high top socks.  Also, there was only one place in my whole hike
last year that was bad, and that was a very overgrown section of the Station
House Fire trail that had just been reopened late in the season.  I was
there in Oct. not usually a bad tick time, but they were really thick in
that section, and nowhere else on trail.  So don't get all freaked.  If you
go through overgrown sections, just be conscious of checking yourself when
you get out of the brush.  They are there, but they are not everywhere.
 It's just part of hiking in much of the U.S..  This from a tick magnet, who
is not afraid of ticks.  They just come with the territory.

Shroomer