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[pct-l] Ticks: Permethrin
>> hiked 26 miles through tick area this weekend and went crazy flicking off
> ticks after using 100% deet on ankles (under long pants in spite of the
warm
> days) and all exposed areas.
I've had really good luck (knock on wood) avoiding tick trouble by spraying
the tops of all socks carried, the bottoms and seat of our long pants, the
seat of our shorts, and the lower periphery of the tent or tarptent with
permethrin just before our hikes. Then, once a month at a town stop,
re-applying the permethrin. It lasts through several washings, allegedly.
So far so good. Maybe this season will be the supreme test.
Also, at Benchmark on the CDT, we shared an evening with 3 hikers who had
just done 300 miles which we had also just finished. They complained of
ticks on them a lot. Puzzled me. We had not had a single one in the same
terrain. Then I realized they slept under a floorless tarp, while we were in
a closed tent (sprayed with permethrin).
Dr Bob
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-
> bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Kimberly Sorbello
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 5:47 PM
> To: themtgoat@yahoo.com; pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: RE: [pct-l] Deet 20% or 100%
>
> fwiw,
> hiked 26 miles through tick area this weekend and went crazy flicking off
> ticks after using 100% deet on ankles (under long pants in spite of the
warm
> days) and all exposed areas. Still, my husband and I each found a tick on
> our bottoms unnoticed at the end of the day, and he had one imbedded in
his
> thigh and one in his armpit. Not good. Second day we made ourselves
> paranoid with tick checks every 15-30 minutes and every snack/breath break
> (steep hills). Third day we wised up and used the rest of our spray
bottle
> of deet to cover our whole pants and sleeves with the spray in addition to
> ankles and exposed skin and we didn't have a single tick all day except
one
> on my pants leg that jumped/fell off immediately. Hiked the rest of the
day
> on narrow trail happily and found ourselves not even checking anymore for
> long periods of time. Made us decide to stick to light colored clothing
and
> spray the dickens onto our trail clothes at the parking lot next time.
(We
> don't wear the same clothes to sleep.) But in tick country, gotta make
sure
> to not need to go pee in the night! Those little guys are invisible in
the
> dark! My husband spent time in the doctor's office today getting the
heads
> cut out and picking up antibiotics. Increases the cost of the weekend
> considerably!
> Just a trail prep thought... I don't know which areas of the PCT are
> tick-infested.
> Kim
>
>
> From: The Mountain Goat <themtgoat@yahoo.com>
> To: pct mailing list <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
> Subject: [pct-l] Deet 20% or 100%
> Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:17:32 -0800 (PST)
>
>
> It may be true that deet works good with 20% and that below that
> the bloody thirsty varments may start to attack. But the 20-30%
> in some trail tests in the late 1990's with my hiking companions
> as unsuspecting test canidates, found that it was good for no more than
> 30 minutes, the 100% seemed to work for about 1 hour. sometime a litte
> longer.
>
> Good Luck to the Class of 06. I wish I could join you.
> -Mountain Goat-
>
>
>
>
> [pct-l] Deet Jerry Goller jerrygoller at backpackgeartest.org
> Wed Feb 8 13:55:02 CST 2006
> ---------------------------------
>
> Interesting. According to the military's own research, concentrations of
> DEET above 30% did not increase effectiveness. What did increase it was
> timed release. The military developed a polymer based controlled released
> formula that successfully addressed the break down issue and is available
> commercially as 3M Ultrathon (just over 30% concentration) in both a cream
> and a spray. Sawyer Controlled Release is a similar product with a
> concentration of about 20%.
>
> The reason that 100% appears to work better is that DEET starts to break
> down as soon as it is applied to the skin. It continues to break down
until
> it completely loses it's ability to repel, which is below 20%. Obviously,
it
> takes 100% longer to break down than it does 30%.
>
> With controlled release DEET the DEET is encapsulated in a polymer at
> "protects" the DEET molecules from breaking down. The polymers are
> formulated to break down at different rates therefore allowing a constant
> concentration of between 20 and 30%, depending on the brand, over a much
> longer time period. Protection over 12 hours or greater is very common. I
> only apply it once a day.
>
> Now I will agree that in very high concentrations of particularly
aggressive
> mosquitoes it is possible that augmentation with 100% concentration could
be
> beneficial. I've not run into that yet, but have read about it.
>
> This system last longer than 100% DEET, is resistant to dilution by
> sweating, is much more comfortable to wear, and it also tends to limit
> dermal absorption of the DEET.
>
> We tested both products on BGT.
>
>
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