Joe the Real Deal

You can’t go outdoors without bugs, and, even though they are important in the food web, you don’t want to be on their menu. For effective bite prevention, you’ll want to keep biting insects off of your gear, your clothes, and your skin.

Permethrin treatment for gear and clothes is recognized as the standard for tick prevention. Factory-treated items generally maintain their effectiveness for 60 washings, and home-treatments from Sawyer are effective for 6 weeks or 6 washings. Sawyer says their permethrin can be used on dogs but is toxic around cats until it has dried. Many Appalachian Trail hikers can share success stories about permethrin, and my experience was that I only saw one tick on myself over 2000 miles, and it was dead on my permethrin-treated sock. In addition to my clothes, I always treat my backpack, paying special attention to the straps, and I treat my Nemo Switchback pad, because I carry it outside of my pack. I also treat my tent sometimes.

There are several repellent options to keep biting insects off of your skin. DEET is the standard for safety and effectiveness, but it can damage plastics, including polycarbonate bear canisters and eyeglass lenses. DEET wipes are my preferences for controlling the application, and I carry latex gloves so I don’t contaminate my hands and transfer the DEET to vulnerable items. I have effectively repelled mosquitos with lemon eucalyptus oil applied to my hat, and I love the smell! Picaridin lotion is another effective repellent that is easy to apply to skin. I have experimented and seen a difference between treated and untreated skin, and other members of the Good Wolf Gear pack have reported good results with picaridin.

Sometimes, the bugs can be a nuisance, even if they aren’t landing on your skin. No one enjoys mosquitos buzzing in their ears or gnats in their face or eyes, and there are times when the physical barrier of a head net is worth its weight in gold, plus it prevents you from having to apply insect repellent on your face. Different mesh sizes are available, with larger mesh being more breathable and smaller mesh controlling smaller insects like no-see-ums. I opt for the larger mesh with permethrin treatment. Long sleeves are always a good choice to keep the bugs off, but they can be uncomfortably warm in summer, so I also have insect mesh pants. The complete ensemble is quite stylish, as you can see LOL.