Cowboy camping, and critters

imported
#1

I’ve hiked two sections of the trail and will thru hike it this year. I like how simple cowboy camping is but, not having cowboy camped 100-plus nights, I still wonder about how many hikers get bit by whatever in the middle of the night, with their heads hanging more-or-less out of their sleeping bags. I mean, there are rabid animals, like foxes, raccoons, and bats, and brown recluse spiders. Scorpions.

I don’t mind taking chances but I don’t look for trouble either. Are there sleeping bags that have mosquito netting than zips onto the bag and over a person’s head?

I’ve met Trail celebrities on the trail, such as Lion King and Yogi and Half Mile and others, but never asked the right person: To be honest, I’m not looking for opinions, I’d like to hear from folks who’ve been there and done that.

Thanks much and see you out there!

Who Knows?

#2

At least carry a mosquitoe headnet with you. It’ll keep the ants and most of the skeeters off your face at night. Only nocturnal I met on the PCT was a bear in Kings Canyon playing with my bear cannister, not with my head.

bowlegs

#3

My wife and I hiked the PCT in 2006. We spent at least 2/3 of our nights out in the open, cowboy camping. It is a great way to experience the natural world and beauty of the PCT.

We never experienced any problems. We wore headnets to keep the mosquitoes at bay at times in the northern Sierra. As far as rabid animals, snakes, scorpions, spiders—no problem.

Our only nocturnal visit was from a mountain lion who let us know we were camping on its territory.

Cowboy camping is the way to go. The Milky Way is unbelievable.

Desert Nomad

#4

Never had any problems with critters - but mosquitoes will be annoying. One thing not yet mentioned - nighttime temps. I found that a hat - Navy knit watchcap - made life much more comfortable. Cooler temps do help the insect problem - ants go away. I sleep on an inflatable pad - make 'em climb if they want to bother you.

Booger

#5

Agreed, mosquitoes are your biggest concern, unless you camp in the middle of the trail. We also had a fair number of nights where the dew soaked us, if we were anywhere near a body of water.

ginny

#6

Doing the JMT I was woken by a pull on my mustache on the left side …I reached to touch it and felt somethin crawlin out the right side of my mouth. I grabbed and threw it and cleaned the web from my stash. The next morning there was a big butted 1/2 dollar size spider on the ground…recently dead. I used to be very afraid of spiders until this and a few other experiences on the AT. This said…I don’t think that you can beat sleeping out under that big sky out there!

farsang

#7

Rather than sleeping under the stars, to avoid condensation / dew, try sleeping under the nearest trailside tree under the stars. This usually works well on clear calm nights during 3 season travel out west. If it’s really cold and damp, or if there’s any weather / fog, then forget it. Sleep in a tent or bivy sack if you don’t want to wake up with your bag and all of your gear soaked.

hoch

#8

…and a scorpion under my sleeping pad one night near Aetna Summit. I always wear a balaclava at night, partly for warmth, partly to keep skeeters away from my ears.

bowlegs

#9

The only time I ever had critters run over me was when I slept in shelters. If you use a tarp you can sleep with your head outside the tarp and the sleeping bag will not get condensation on it. ( or put your head outside of the tent door)

Big B

#10

A properly pitched tarp would be breathable enough that you won’t get condensation from your breath under any circumstances. No need to stick your head out unless maybe your eyelids just can’t get enough of stargazing while you’re asleep. (You will still get some minor condensation on the tarp and maybe your gear if the temps drop to the dew point on a calm night. )

hoch

#11

It happens. I cowboy camped about 1/3 of the time on the trail. The worst i had was an ant invasion once. I had a friend though who woke up with a scorpion under her head. To quote:

“I had just moved my stuff sac, which doubles as a pillow during the night, and found the largest scorpion I’d ever seen (and the only one I’ve ever seen) directly underneath.I 'm sure it was snuggling next to my head for most of the night, smiling contentedly. After the photos had been taken, it wandered off peacefully into the nearby bushes. It was a pretty exciting start to a very hot day.”

Stuff like that is what made me usually set up the tent, but sometimes it’s just nice out and you look around your campsite and everything seems benign and so you just sleep out. The odds of anything serious happening to you are really really tiny.

markv

#12

On the PCT in the desert I would wake up a couple/three nights a week in the middle of the night with coyotes or a bear staring at me from the foot of my sleeping bag. It got to the point where Pearson and I would hunt down rocks to throw before cowboy camping under the stars in the desert.

A couple of times in the morning I had to ask Pearson if I actually had woke up and heaved rocks that night or whether I’d dreamt it in my sleep. Pearson would be packing up and say, “Oh yeah, I could see the glint in their eyes when the rock bounced off their forehead.”

Up north, in Washington on the PCT, a big honking elk landed in the middle of the tent roof after dark kicking the heck out of me and everything else. I’d already been asleep. Ended up going out and hitting the bottom of my cook pot with a spoon to scare the beast away. Shoulda had a video of that – Geez is that funny now that I think of it.

The next morning after the elk had done a cannonball into the tent, I discovered I’d set the tent up on a deer trail when hiking well after dark and setting then up the tent.

Right at the Canadian border, Pearson and I had a deer walk right up to the tent opening after dark and look inside.

Datto

Datto