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[pct-l] Skeeters...(was tarps vs.tents)
There were a couple evenings in the Sisters area of Oregon and
Indian Heaven wilderness in Washington where if I hadn't had a
tent I'd have been stark, raving out of my mind. Normally I can
sit and gaze over a lake and not be bothered by the 50 or so
skeeters within a foot of my face. But when it became 200+ I gave
up and had a cold dinner and early bed in the tent. AT Sisters
Mirror Lake it was too hot to get in the tent so I stayed on the
move until dusk, eating dinner on a circumambulation of the lake.
I found the worst time for flies and skeeters was during lunch.
What worked for me was to pull out my ground cloth and use it as a
blanket, crackers and cheese by one hand, novel in the other.
Once the only flat spot was the trail (I eat when I'm hungry) and
I'd layed down lengthwise on it and two hikers came by and seemed
most perplexed by my bug avoidance "technique". My neurosis level
was pretty low then and their odd looks at me as we talked didn't
phase me. They had to carefully step around me, lsapping at the
air, as I wasn't about to move. I read for another ten or 15
minutes before scurrying to put the pack together and outrun the
swarm...
Jeffrey Olson
Seattle, Washington
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