[pct-l] Insects and our flesh

[Brett Tucker" <blisterfree@earthlink.net (Brett Tucker)]

>>Well, in thousands of miles of hiking, I have yet to come across a rodent
on
the PCT that entered my abode while it was acupado....

Si. But the PCT isn't the only place a person might try pitching a tent.
Like me, they might make the mistake of thinking that any of the more remote
established campsites along the AT - let alone the ones near shelters - are
rodent patrol-free. I suppose this might be unfairly adding an additional
dynamic to the tent vs. tarp mega-debate, that of universal application.
I'll back off this conundrum for now.

>>Ants, OTOH, are everywhere...they don't search you out based on the
cleanliness of your camp...they are just there...the first and natural
inhabitants of the area...<<

Referring specifically to the PCT, I will admit that ants can be a potential
nuisance, but in my experience only in two situations:

1) the red, fire ants that are found almost exclusively along the southern
California portions of trail are not to be messed with. I would not want to
pitch a tent in their vicinity any more than I would attempt to shield them
from moonlight under a tarp. Luckily, they are found only sporadically, and
the vast majority of thru-hikers sleep under the stars with little
protection, and even fewer worries.

2) the black, carpenter ants of Washington and especially Oregon are very
widespread and almost unavoidable at many stealth sites, but they are mostly
just a nuisance, since they are not prone to biting. They ARE attracted to
food scraps and odors, and eating at a campsite will raise their curiosity
about anything in the area that is out of the ordinary, including the person
trying to sleep. A tent will rebuff them. As will a tarp with floored
netting enclosure, which we can carry only along the portions of trail that
present a "risk," thus saving us the weight for most of the trail's length.
For that matter, the shell clothing in combination with just a tarp might
not keep the ants off of us, but it could keep them off our minds.

Yet one extra pound of weight - that's all it takes to go from the
trade-offs of a tarp system to the different, but possibly equal trade-offs
of a tent.

One extra pound isn't much, is it?

One extra pound, which we'll carry each mile for a total of 2,170 miles,
every day for 5 months, through the desert, up to 13,000 feet in the High
Sierra, straight into mosquito country (how much does a pound of mosquitos
weigh?), through the doldrums of northern California, and past volcanoes
great and small, in all kinds of weather.

Hey, we all have to carry something out there. It's true. We could apply
this thinking to every item in our pack, and maybe we should. But we still
need a certain amount of equipment to get by. When we're happy with our
gearlist, and it facilitates our hiking and to whatever extent our camping,
then great. Let's go hiking. Otherwise, it pays to think outside the box.
Once upon a time tarps were way out in left field, as far as thru-hikers
were concerned. Now they are ubiquitous. We all have to carry something. But
the tarp-toting hikers, for one, decided they didn't need to pack along the
mental load of the tent paradigm any longer. At least, it wasn't essential
for their success, nor possibly their happiness, on the way toward Canada.

- blisterfree