Well, a week shy of Summer. Here's one of those boring no-photo write-ups:
I do my fair share of complaining about the bugs and heat, but I decided to get out and do a “summer” trip just to make sure I wasn’t overreacting. This was a kayaking trip, so at least I wouldn’t be hiking miles with a pack soaking me in sweat. So here’s the deal…
Hot and dry
Now I know how the southern folk hit these 10lb base weights. I literally wore a swim suit and crocs 90% of the time. A t-shirt when the sun was starting to burn me on the beach. Then pants and a long sleeve shirt for a short time in camp due to the bugs.
The first night got down to 52° and the second was 66°. 66!!! Absolutely ridiculous! That’s about all I want as a HIGH temp. And I’m sure it only hit that for a brief time since it was 86° by noon the previous day and still 80° at 10pm when I went to bed. Back up to 74° by 6am. I didn’t use my top quilt the second night and only put the UQ on close to 3am.
The water temp was 51.2°, so it wasn’t quite enjoyable to kill some time by swimming. Let's call it painfully refreshing.
Bugs
They were obviously out by now, so I loaded up my gear with permethrin and picaridin on my skin. The permethrin was interesting since it clearly killed a bunch of small flies; there were about 10 of them inside my hammock on my WBBB shelf (I sprayed the netting). I left the netting open during the day. But how long does it take? Do they only die when they try to bite? On my clothes, I watched bugs land on me and stroll up and down my legs for minutes, only leaving when I swatted at them. It seems like a mosquito would have done its business in that time.
The gnats were the most irritating thing I’ve ever experienced. I couldn’t sit still for 10 seconds before they were all over my face, trying to go in my eyes and ears.
I felt like I kept the mosquitoes at bay, until I got home. 24 hours later the itchy bites appeared so I wonder if there was some delayed reaction? Usually you can feel them bite right away but I felt only a few this whole trip. After getting home I noticed at least a dozen, even in places where they shouldn’t have gotten me with clothing on (i.e. right in the center of my chest). Maybe one was inside my hammock while I slept?
By the 3rd morning, the mosquitoes were so bad they wouldn’t give me 30 seconds to heat up water for coffee. I had no choice but to skip breakfast. Absolutely miserable. I packed up, loaded the kayak and was on the water paddling by 6:20am.
The worst part was the fact that 35mph wind didn’t even keep the bugs away. You know how wind seems to swirl in the woods.
Green Woods
Other than one or two car camping trips, this was the first time I remember being in the woods when the trees has all their leaves. It was like a jungle! A nice change of scenery.
Dirty gear
The oak tree nearby was completely dousing me with some kind of yellow powder. The pines were leaking sap. This was literally the first time in 5+ years that I had to wash my tarp and hammock when I got home.
Would I do it again? No thanks! It’s just not worth it. I had a good time for the first half of the trip and I’m glad I went. But I’ll be sticking to my late Sept-early May calendar as usual. I honestly can't believe people get out backpacking in the summer...I just can't believe it. -20°F hanging is child's play compared to this misery. I know I'm probably the minority here, though
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