BUGS? - Pacific Crest Trail

imported
#1

What is to expected in the flying and biting bug department on the PCT? Having never been to California or the Northwest, I am unsure of the magnitude by which the bugs exist out there. Can anyone tell me from experience what they dealt with. Are there any tarp users that regretted the tarp’s openness and would have preferred a closed system? Were you kept up all night by incessant buzzing? Or is it just a matter of personal preference, like everything else gear-related? Thanks in advance for the advice. Nightfever.

nightfever

#2

The mosquitos in the Sierra will make you INSANE. Seriously. Don’t even try to walk north of Tuolumne without a bottle of DEET. Oregon could be bad, depending upon when you’re there. I got killed by mosquitos in Oregon and the first half of Washington in 2002. 2003 was less severe. It all depends on when the snow melts.

I carry a tent. Tarp hikers I’ve known have had many sleepless nights due to the bugs.

And don’t forget: The PCT is smack dab in the middle of GIANT ANT WORLD.

yogi

yogi

#3

I used a tent the whole way but I know of several hikers who cowboy camped most of the way. Never much conversaion about loss of sleep from them. You know when to pitch. When the bugs are bad during the day, they will be bad during the night as well.
While hiking… I wouldn’t have made it without a head net. The So. Cal gnats eat brain matter. I swear. The will do ANYTHING to get into your skull. Breathing becomes a chore if you cant keep them away from your mouth. Count on them in California anytime you go between 2000 and 6000 feet in elevation.
The mozzies get bad in the Sierras. I’m a deet user so they didn’t bother me much. DONT use anything less than 95%. Salespeople will try to tell you that you don’t need 95%. They are wrong. Hikers sweat enough to dilute the solution. 95% quickly becomes 50%. Other hikers didn’t use anything, I dont’see how they made it out of the Sierras with any sanity. But, it can be done.
I was stung EVERYWHERE by the bees. 10 stings for the trip. One bee flew under my gator, crawled up over the lip of my shoe, down my sock and stung me on the base of my heel. One on my neck, four on my legs, one on the foot, one in my ear, one on my lower eyelid…why me? I used to get nervous when I had gone more than 200 miles without getting stung. Nobody else seemed to have this problem with the bees.
Having gone through all this… I’d still recommend hiking this trail. It’s all worth it.

Little John

#4

Yeah, those gnats in SoCal . . . what’s the deal with them?

The absolute worst sting is from the hornets. They are attracted to me the way the bees seem to have been attracted to Little John.

Of the three big trails, the bugs are the worst on the PCT. If you’re not a believer in DEET now, the PCT will convert you.

yogi

#5

Yeah So Cal and the gnats. The really annoying thing about these little f***ers is that they fly in your face when you walk. It’s almost like they are bouncing along waiting to fly into any open hole. I ended up strapping one of my hiking sticks to my pack and swatting with a bandana. They go away when you stop walking. The mosquitoes were the opposite. They only seemed to bother me when I stopped walking. 100% deet worked really well in the Sierra, but didn’t work very well in Oregon. I slept out, either with or without a tarp and kind of regretted not having a tent. I would cover my head with a bugnet, but that got REALLY hot and stifiling. If you are going to go the tarp route I would recommend you get some kind of net attachment to cover your upper half. Check out Gossamer Gear for possibilities. Bees didn’t bother me at all, but I did have to try and pull a stinger out of Little John’s eye. I guess he’s just a little bit sweeter than I am.

fitz manly

#6

On our PCT hike in 2000, the bugs weren’t that bad. We carried head nets, but never used them. Spent some evenings in the tent because of the bugs, but never had them so bad that we couldn’t sleep for the noise as happened to us in Montana a time or two. The face flies in Southern California were annoying, but at least they didn’t bite. I don’t think we even wore DEET during the day, just while cooking dinner. We ran into some bees in Washington in a hole under the trail, but we were warned, so we carefully crossed one at a time – running as fast as we could, leaping over the hole, then having the next person wait until the swarm of bees went back in the hole so they could race past. It was actually rather fun. A wasp stung me on the first day - but it wasn’t a big deal.

On the CDT there was a period of about 3 weeks where the bugs drove me nuts. If we were near water, there were mosquitos, if we were away from the water, there were biting flies - big ones and little ones that looked like harmless houseflies. Those guys hurt! First freeze in early August took care of them, but oh were they infuriating! For about a week I was really frustrated – but that was also the spell where we were in full summer flower season, so there were compensations.

Spirit Walker

#7

Thanks everyone for the advice. Its probably hard to talk about bugs, mosquiteos and such because so much of it depends on personal tolerance, which is subjective. But it does sound like I should ditch the tarp and go with a single-wall closed shelter system. Maybe its time I give Henry Shires a call.

http://www.ForTheWoods.org

Nightfever