I live and do almost all of my hiking in Missouri, the tick capitol, and I'm well acquainted with permetherin. Now I'm getting ready for a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some day hikes and I'm kind of assuming bugs aren't a concern. Am I right? Any precautions I should be considering?
Charlie
If the USA is anything like Europe, this year is a tickfest. Over the last 10 years I've gotten 1 tickbite, even though I'm often in woodlands & tall grass.
Until this summer. Over the last month I've had 7 (!!!) ticks bite me. Even after covering myself with 50% DEET spray multiple times a day. Luckily I spotted all of them within hours and none of them were filling up on blood yet.
To make matters worse, there's a new virus being spread in The Netherlands by ticks, which doesn't cause Lyme disease but Encephalitis!
Yes, there are definitely ticks in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.
I have seen more on our side of the hills than ever before. I would imagine it is the same on the east side.
http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/CoopEx...ests/ticks.htm
Outdoors > Indoors
I love me some XeroShoes
“An optimist is a man who plants two acorns and buys a hammock.” ― Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Compared to the South we are bug free but with that said you can run into ticks, biting flies and mossies. Usually the higher you camp or the farther you are from standing water the less you have to worry about.
I basicly always carry a small bottle of 100% deep but hardly ever use it.
Lived in Colorado Springs for 6.5 years and never had any problems with ticks. Where I live now is a different story.
Straight out of Clayton.
Most physical hike: Grandfather Mountain, NC. Aug 13.
I don't need to make my pack lighter. I need to make my (_*_) lighter.
Don't you get Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from ticks? Just sayin'.
"I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe... ?"
- Kate Chopin
I'll be camping at Moraine Park campground in RMNP at about 8,500 feet, with most hikes above that altitude. With that in mind, how likely am I to experience a tick problem?
Outside of Estes Park? I don't think you should have any problem unless you're walking though some of the meadows in the backcountry maybe.
"I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe... ?"
- Kate Chopin
Lived and hiked here in Colorado for almost 20 years. Me nor the dogs have ever had a tick, that I know of. Mossie's can be bad during day depending on your proximity to water, but I generally don't use a bug net at night. That being said, my last hang back in July at 10k feet had a nighttime low of 39*! Biting flies also an issue during warmer hours. Don't think any of our dogs have ever had fleas either.
_____________
Greg
Golden, CO
Heck there's a whole 'nuther thing (viral not bacterial like RMSF) called Colorado Tick Fever.Originally Posted by dakotaross
Having said that, I *rarely* have gotten a tick on me here.
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