Bugforce Scale as proposed by Paul Wagner is an attempt to describe how annoying mosquitoes are from a qualitative perspective. An example of one of my level 9 experiences was descending into the basin around Dick’s Lake is Desolation Wilderness. While walking down the trail I briefly stopped to get something out of my pack. In less than one minute I counting more than 100 mosquitos land on the parts of my body I could see. DEET didn’t prevent them from landing on me, but thankfully they couldn’t penetrate the Supplex clothing I was wearing or get my face because I was wearing a head net.
0 is Zero. Really. No mosquitoes or other biting bugs
- I think I may have seen one. But maybe it was a gnat.
- OK, I saw one, and heard one, but didn’t actually get bitten,
- Yeah, there were some in a few spots. Only the timid put on organic bug juice.
- Got a few bites, but I got more of them than they got of me.
- Time for DEET at dawn and dusk. Hiking, we just slapped and sped up.
- DEET while hiking. Headnets at dawn and dusk
- Pick your camp spots carefully, up on the ridge in the wind. Bites between hat and sunglasses–how do they get in there?
- Long sleeves and long pants, I don’t care how hot it is. Pray for wind.
- Headnets while hiking, or you’ll breathe in at least one bug per mile. DEET dissolves sunglasses
- Clouds of mosquitoes waiting on the trail and on the screen of the tent. Open warfare. DEET dissolves watchband, and it’s stainless steel.
- We made it out alive.
- They got Larry. RIP, Larry.
High Sierra Topix board uses a simpler mosquito rating system
- No mosquitoes or if there are some, but not biting yet
- Very light during the day, moderate at dawn and dusk
- Moderate during the day, heavy at dawn and dusk
- Heavy during the day, heavy at dawn and dusk
- Unbearable all day, no breaks, cannot eat outside of tent. If you stop, hundreds will descend on you; when looking thru a camera viewfinder, you see more skeeters than lake. If you slapped your arm, you’d smear blood from all the dead gorged bodies
Personally, I typically don’t use DEET, I used Picaridin which I found to be just as effective and it doesn’t damage materials or feel “weird” on my skin. I have tried a number of the “natural” repellents as well as the original “Skin so Soft”. I haven’t found them to be particularly effective.
Permethrin infused clothing can provide reasonable protection when the bug pressure is moderate, but I found it to be inadequate when the mosquitoes are out in force. Several companies sell clothing with permethrin pre-applied. You can self-apply Permethrin (it’s sold many places including at REI) or ship clothing to Insect Shield for professional application.
When I expect heavy bugs I typically wear tight weave clothing (Supplex Nylon) and a headnet rather than using chemicals.
Chemical Protection
DEET based repellent is proven to be the most effective chemical treatment. The most effective option is time released 33% DEET such as Ultrathon. See Mosquitoes and Mosquito Repellents and DEET-based insect repellents: safety implications, and EPA’s list of active ingredients for more information.
Picaridin finally entered the US market. Picaridin has a number of advantages over DEET: it doesn’t destroy plastics, it doesn’t smell bad, and doesn’t leave that icky feeling. From the studies I have read Picaridin is slightly less effective than similar concentrations of DEET. I have found that 8% Picaridin is effective against modest mosquito pressure for a few hours but not effective in heavy mosquito areas, and >20% worked well for medium to high mosquito pressure.
I have tried a number of the natural insect repellents. Lemon Eucalyptus seems to have been the most effective. In locations which have only minor mosquito problems they can be effective, but if you are somewhere with lots of mosquitoes (say in the Sierras when the snow is melting, Canada during the summer, etc), you will get eaten alive if you use “natural” repellents.
Ticks
Start with prevention. Spray your cloths with Permethrin and use DEET based repellent if you are in a location which has a lot of ticks. You should remove ticks by gently pulling them off with a pair of tweezers or using one of the special tick removing devices which are designed to lift ticks off your skin (such as the Pro Tick Remedy). Using hot match, Vaseline, nail polish is extremely counter production. Not only do these techniques risk killing the tick and leaving part of the tick in the victim, but ticks will often expel their stomach contents when distressed, the very thing you want to avoid. There is a belief that Lyme disease isn’t transmitted for 24 hours, so make sure you do a tick check each night. If you have been bit by a deer tick, check with a doctor. There is now an anti-biotic treatment which is more than 80% effective. I collected some info about tick removal tools from backpacker.com forum. Of course, treating clothing with Permethrin helps keep ticks away.
