Observation Peak - 7/4/09

[kelkev]

I have a good friend who spent Saturday the 4th at Duffy Lake, in the Eight Lakes Basin of Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, and said that the skeeters greeted him as soon as he arrived at the trailhead. And that they were relentless all the way into Duffy Lake. He didn't get a single bite (using DEET), but his wife didn't use any and her arms look just like Cheryl's .... I've tried Picaridin (Cutter Advanced), and found that it doesn't work for me as well as DEET. I hate the smell and oily mess that DEET leaves, but at least it works. It's an unfair trade - - July skeeters and wildflowers, or September and no skeeters/wildflowers. At least the fall colors are pretty in September!

[anna in boots]

kelkev, I hear ya on the Deet mess. There's another ominous problem with it: it melts nylon. Be very careful what you spray it on and what it touches inside your pack. I always double it up in a couple Ziploc baggies to offset spills.

The first time I made that mistake, my first aid kit where I had it stashed looked like someone had gotten artsy with a blow torch everywhere that stinky crap had leaked out. It was totally melted. Freaky. And we put that stuff on our bare skin!

Anna

[justpeachy]

Trapper Creek area is not known for being bad with bugs

Considering the total lack of water along this trail, I was quite surprised to see so many mosquitoes. Hopefully they will indeed be short-lived!

It's an unfair trade - - July skeeters and wildflowers, or September and no skeeters/wildflowers.

I couldn't agree more! I LOVE wildflowers, but they often peak right along with the mosquito peak. Sigh.

There's another ominous problem with it: it melts nylon.

It's horrible stuff. I'd rather suffer for the short-term than deal with the potential long-term consequences of using it. I heard a story about someone who had a bottle of Deet in their pocket and it leaked. A lot of it got on his leg, much more than if he had sprayed some on. He ended up with permanent nerve damage on that area of his leg. Eeek!

[jeffstatt]

Thanks for the TR! I've got to do more hiking in the Trapper Creek Wilderness! (But maybe in a few weeks when the bugs disipate a bit!) How were the road conditions getting up there? I had to stop a few miles short of the Souixon Peak access last summer because of rough roads.


On the Deet thing...

I'm one of those guys the Skeeters love. (I'd put me up against any of y'all!) I've used 100% Deet on two occasions. The first time I got ill to the point of throwing up. The second time was yesterday I used it again yesterday and had a really bad headache the whole evening. Now it's too early to draw a cause and effect since there are so many other factor at play. Both times it was a pretty hot day and i was really behind on hydration. I'm also proned to Migranes
Nevertheless it was enough for my dear wife to tell me to stop using it.

[justpeachy]

How were the road conditions getting up there?

Not bad. I had no trouble in my low-clearance Honda Accord. The gravel road has a few potholes, but it's NOTHING compared to the northern approach to Silver Star Mountain!

[sparklehorse]

Annoyingly even though you need about 25% picaridin concentration to be effective it is only sold in concentrations of 10%.

That isn't accurate. There are a couple of 20% Picaridin products available, including this one: Sawyer's Premium Picaridin Repellent

The Cutter Advanced product that Kelkev mentioned is only 7% Picaridin. I found the Cutter Advanced to be basically worthless a couple years ago on a very buggy, three day trip through Bull of the Woods Wilderness. However the 20% Sawyers worked very well for me last year in Indian Heaven at the height of mosquito season. I can't stand DEET, so finding something effective that doesn't smell like solvent was a welcome discovery. Plus, yeah, it doesn't melt plastic either. Always a bonus. That's been my experience anyway, your buggy miles may vary.

G

[retired jerry]

We have "hijacked this thread" - sorry.

Does Picaridin repel biting flies?

I have noticed that DEET is totally ineffective against biting flies.

Yes, DEET does melt plastic. I put it in a zipper lock bag which contains it pretty good.

[ElphabaNorthWest]

I'm one of those guys the Skeeters love. (I'd put me up against any of y'all!) I've used 100% Deet on two occasions. The first time I got ill to the point of throwing up. The second time was yesterday I used it again yesterday and had a really bad headache the whole evening. Now it's too early to draw a cause and effect since there are so many other factor at play. Both times it was a pretty hot day and i was really behind on hydration. I'm also proned to Migranes
Nevertheless it was enough for my dear wife to tell me to stop using it.

For what it's worth, the research I read found that 100% deet doesn't work any better than 30% deet. I just bought myself some Ultrathon, which is the time released 34% deet that the military uses. We are planning on camping up at Trapper Creek this weekend, so I want to be covered. Supposedly it doesn't melt nylon and works really well. It was super expensive though. I also have some picadrin 20% which also doesn't melt stuff and smells a lot better. We'll see how it works out...

[greglief]

For what it's worth, I have had good success with Cutter Advanced Sport Aerosol (15% Picaridin) and Repel Lemon Eucalyptus Pump (40% Lemon Eucalyptus Oil). The only catch is that these need to be applied fairly often (in my experience, much more often than their stated 4-6 hour window of effectiveness).

DEET = Dangerous Evil and Extremely Toxic

Greg

[beag]

There's something different about this year. Bugs are everywhere on the trails and the underbrush has grown so much more this year than any of the last 10 years that I've been hiking. One thing that was different. We had a long cold wet spring. Other year's we would get a few weeks of mild weather when brush would grow, and then a cold spell would kill that growth. This year it was May before we finally got the spring growth in weeds, flowers, and berries too.There was very little frost in May, thus it is a record year for cherries, flowers and brush. Anyone else notice this. Hope it is not Global Warming .