Okay guys I have no idea, well I know it is somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon line, but where do deer ticks start becoming an issue? I’ll be putting defensive measures in my mail drops and I was wondering when I should concentrate on the ticks. Also, where do the flies start becoming an issue? I am sure I could read and conclude the answers but it is simpler to ask you guys.
Thanks
Dale Roberts
Right before Kent, Conn this year. Didn’t know which was worse the tics or the slugs, ick. They crawled into everything, boots, water bottles, dinner. Keep clean, after every field crossing check yourself, backs of legs arms etc. The Nymphs are small as pepper. We both were bitten twice but found them immediatley. Used some Deep Woods Off. Skeeters were starting to become hell then too, especially in Mass around Jug End towards Great Barrington. Eight miles in less than two hours in packs through the marshes. Spray your elbow often. No see-ums in northern New England.
Bushwhack
Dale, totally depends on when you start your hike and what type of pace you hold. I believe there have been reported cases of Lyme disease in just about every state north and south that the AT crosses. (Ahhhh, now that should make you feel better!) North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, etc. etc… Don’t think the buggers abide by the mason-dixon line! I was getting bugged by black flies in Shenandoah National Park for example. My hike was rather atypical though. For the average hiker leaving March-April, I’ve noted from several past journals, that given the weather on any given year: SNP-Mass. is bad for ticks, PA bad for horse flies, NJ-Mass. bad for skeeters, Vt-ME notorious for Black flies, but usually simmered down by the time the gang arrives. I would really not look at it as a matter of where, but when. May and June are the bug-come-alive months it seems. Hence “mayflies” and “Junebugs” I’d send for the no-see-um netting right away, and start doing tick checks once the weather warms.
Sweeper
Guys, thanks for the info. Bushwhack, I’m pretty much on your and Bramble’s schedule for last year, PA in May or so. I’ll start really paying attention to stuff around central VA. Not that I won’t before, just more often. It sounds like New England is where all of the action really starts. I know it all depends on the weather this year though. But I’ll be carrying some stuff for the bugs all of the time after NC. I was wondering when to ask for extra to be put into mail drops due to my added use. It sounds like PA or so probably. Just wanted a rough idea of what I may need.
Thanks
By the way, you guys are fast.
Dale Roberts
On the reply or thru hiking…that’s Sweep’s department. By the time you hit some bugs that will be of no problem, it’s the ones that just won’t leave you alone. The skeeter relentlessly chew on elbows, even if you run. We got so lucky up north. The blackfly season ended early by a week and a hlaf in the Whites. We saw a handfull and were bitten by three maybe. The sobos told of “Death Road” north of Gorham. Bodies of hikers sucked dry and discarded on the side of the trail like tissue paper. Bruce at Hikers Paradise said the few sobos that didn’t get off the trail and quit looked like they had been shot with rock salt by the angry farmers daughter’s daddy. But it all depends on the season. Warm and late thaws, I’m from NH, you gonna die if you’re in country. We just got way to lucky except for Mass. But you’ll love the slugs. Check your rain fly before you roll it up. A twelve hour dead one smells like rotten meat. You’l be flicking them off EVERYTHING! Run away!
Bushwhack
I just meant that I posted the question this morning and I had an answer this afternoon.
Okay…the slugs, I get the idea. Run!
Bug wise I hope the season is favorable for me this year. I’ll yell in my journal if they aren’t.
Dale Roberts