Tick strategies

[MuddyWaters]

treat clothing with permethrin.
Wear compression shorts so they cant freely access the nether regions
Quick check legs every 5 min or so if wearing shorts and encountering ticks, and just flick them off.

Dont wear dark clothing. Wear light colored clothing that shows them easily.

[Don H]

Permethrin on the tent floor and sides. Keeps the ticks off the tent which goes in your pack in the morning (hopefully without the ticks).
Also on the outside of the pack so when you set it down on the ground ticks don't hitch a ride.
Clothes go in the dryer first, before washing to kill ticks. If you wash first then the wet clothes might not get hot enough to kill them.

Know the symptoms of Lyme Disease and get immediate treatment if you suspect it. Don't let the Dr. make you wait for antibiotics until the test results come back. Tests are often inaccurate. My brother in law tested neg. 3 times before testing poss. I picked it up in MA, it sucks.

[Chair-man]

A lot of the trail was overgrown. So bad in a few places with tall grass completely covering the trail. I actually lost the trail twice down around Pot Point road it was so bad.

Find a better trail to hike on or take one of these next time you go. Trail builder

[shelb]

Curious: If you find a tick embedded in your skin, would you demand a doctor give you anti-biotics?Or, would the doctor be able to tell if the tick was the bad kind if you brought it in?

[Unitic]

Curious: If you find a tick embedded in your skin, would you demand a doctor give you anti-biotics?Or, would the doctor be able to tell if the tick was the bad kind if you brought it in?

I'd recommend doing your homework and be prepared to educate your doctor on species and pathogens. I would ID the tick your self and know the potential diseases it may carry. Depending on the species and the amount of time it was embedded, I'd make a call as to whether to discuss pre-emptive antibiotics. Lyme and most of the other infections are MUCH more effectively treated if caught very early. Here is a good starting point for tick info: http://www.lymedisease.org/lyme101/t...out_ticks.html

[rocketsocks]

Find a better trail to hike on or take one of these next time you go. Trail builder

I want one

[Rain Man]

Permethrin has to soak in and bind to the threads in fabric while drying. Waterproof fabric, such as tent floors and rainflies can't absorb the Permethrin.

You've gotten good suggestions, what about a dog? Did you have a dog with you? They will definitely go out and gather ticks and then bring the ticks to you. (Same for poison ivy.)

I hiked all those trails you mentioned with nary a tick. Of course, did the Mullens Cove Loop and Pot Point Loop with snow on the ground. That might be an effective strategy for you. ~wink~

RainMan

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[marti038]

Two weeks ago I was in the woods (working, not hiking) and had pants on. It wasn't terribly hot and I assumed long pants would protect me from poison ivy and insects.

That night when I got home, much to my surprise, a tick was latched on to the side of my left knee. In the past with shorts on I catch them crawling on my legs before they have a change to "bite" me.

All that is to say that pants are not tick proof. I plan on treating my worldly possesions with permethrin soon.

[greenmtnboy]

I have never had serious problems with ticks though I have spent a lot of time outdoors. I was talking with a cross country bicyclist the other day who said the tick problem was most acute in Tennesee and North Carolina this year and he had to do a tick check before retiring every night.

I would think that there should be sensible natural alternatives as others have suggested. A sweet carbo rich diet with little in the way of pungent foods like garlic, the onion family, sulfur rich proteins and the like would in my estimation predispose outdoors people to risks of ticks and other bugs more as these little buggers have extremely refined sensory systems. But then I was thinking about the statistics of deer and moose who have been found to have lots and lots of ticks over their bodies, so maybe this theory has holes? But then again they don't have the choice of diet or of external essential oil applications like we do.

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...

LYME DISEASE RAMPANT IN MID-HUDSON VALLEY...!!

Be extra careful in NY. It has one of the country's highest infection rates, with 51,936 cases reported to CDC from 2000 to 2010.

But the CDC extimates that the actual number may be 10 times as many. That means more then 520,000 men, women and children may have been struck by the disease.

The mid-Hudson region has been a hotspot for Lyme for more than a decade.

Orange County has had the most reported cases of any of New York's 62 counties for each of the past three years.

[nastynate]

Got some permethrin last night. Going to treat our clothes and shoes. Also going to try to stay out of the grassy areas from now on if I can help it.

[Namtrag]

I must be naturally tick repellant. I went on a short overnight section hike on Tar Jacket Ridge east of Buena Vista last weekend, and there were several areas where we walked through grassy areas (about knee high). I found zero ticks on my pants or my body. It makes me a little scared to be honest, like I must be not seeing them.