How are the mosquitos/bugs on trail around Hot Springs? Do you hike hike with mosquito nets?
How are the mosquitos/bugs on trail around Hot Springs? Do you hike hike with mosquito nets?
Humidity in the Southeast makes hiking in a head net unbearable - in my opinion.
We have bugs around here, but we don't have the organized armies of assault insects that you find in the northern tier. Our mosquitoes are ordinary mosquitoes. Our horseflies are ordinary horseflies. Up north the blackflies are numerous, relentless, well trained, and immortal. To avoid them, either stay home, or endure hiking in a bug net.
Some people use bug spray. I generally don't. The bugs aren't bad enough around here to justify spraying poison on my face. If I sprayed other exposed skin, the bugs would just concentrate their efforts on my face, so it wouldn't work to keep them off of me - again, my opinion.
Gnats are why we wear headnets in the summer as they get into your ears and eyes. Noseeums---midges---are esp bad in certain summer locations in the Southeast---and they itch constantly hence the need for DEET on parts of your body where they bite---legs---back of hands, arms etc.
Personal experience---nothing works better than DEET---not skin so soft, not herbal mixes.
Another technique is to get some repellent insect sticks and burn them in the tent vestibule. If really desperate carefully light a stick and poke it into your ccf pad and zip up the tent and smoke 'em out.
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