What Will Be Your Mosquito Avoidance Techniques?

[maverick]

Things are progressively getting worse and will be for the next several weeks.
Would like to hear everyone's avoidance techniques.
What have you tried that has been successful and not so successful over the years?
Are you a DEET or non chemical backpacker? If you like sleeping out under the stars
during June-July how do you deal with them?
Any one try Carbolic Soap? Garlic? What about a mosquito coil, Thermacell Appliance or
Latern, do they work? If you have your own concoction that you swear works please let
us know too.

[jessegooddog]

Herbal Armour works for me, but time to get a headnet for the big swarms. No Deet, ever.

[oldranger]

Camp high, away from water, sleep under at least mosquito netting, wait until after july 4. Skeeters promise to be thinned out by then. Actually I'm waiting til july 8.

I remember 2007, slightly wetter than this year. Calipider did a trip over Red Peak, Post Peak, and Fernandez Passes around july 4 and the skeeters were nasty. Two weeks later I did a trip in the same area 2 weeks later and the only bad skeeters were as we passed Moraine Meadows. Timing is everything! But nasty mosquitoes usually means pretty good fishing, so sometimes I put up with them.

Mike

[Mradford]

I have been asking this question to random people lately and i have heard some weird answers. One woman SWEARS that using vanilla extract has kept her from getting bit for over 20 years. Sounds crazy to me but what do i know haha. Also, another person told me they use half water half Listerine because the alcohol is supposed to keep mosquitoes away. Also sounds nuts to me. I am definitely interested in this topic however because i am not a huge fan of deet. I would love to hear what other have to say.

-Mike

[AlmostThere]

No help here - I have tried Natrapel, lemon eucalyptus, and picardin in various forms.

My current functional strategy is a headnet and 30% DEET - Ultrathon or a spray. I forgot to spray my knees and socks last weekend, so I have four bites on my right ankle and three on a kneecap.

[quentinc]

I also find that nothing but DEET works against determined mosquitoes. The natural remedies are OK early season, when the mosquitoes haven't fully developed their blood lust yet.

I also try OR's "camp high" approach, but I swear I was being buzzed by a mosquito halfway up to Lamarck Col this weekend. There weren't any at Muir Pass at least. Even the mosquitoes are respectful of him.

[rlown]

a long-sleeved shirt, and long pants. oh, and 100% deet for the uncovered parts and a tent to sleep in. I'm hoping they're all burnt out by the time i go in early July.

[Wandering Daisy]

Head net is a no-brainer.

Garden gloves. I buy the cheap women's gloves at the Dollar Store. Then I just put DEET on my wrists and on the part of my arms exposed by teh slit in my long sleeve shirt.

I also spray the back of my pack (the part that is agains my back) with a non-damaging mosquito repellent - used the Eucylptus stuff. I find that the hot sweaty pack really attracts bugs.

I wear long gaiters all the time. Skeets cannot bite through this.

I keep walking and may only take a few rest stops all day.

There have been times when I wanted a longer noon break so I set up the tent and got in.

At the end of the day's hiking, the minute I stop, I take of clothes and jump into a cold lake. Mosquitoes are not attracted to very cold skin for a short period. I then quicky dress. Around camp I wear my rain jacket and put up the hood.

I choose campsites in the most windy exposed spots.

I hike on ridges - Kuna Crest is one hike I did at peak mosquito season and it was wonderful.

And I usually take a 2-week break early July. This also keeps the family happy and I do a lot with the grandkids then.

[SSSdave]

Ever amazes me seeing so many people improperly dressed during mosquito season. Then they swear they'll never backpack, camp, or hike that time of year again in the Sierra or whatever. Like those that forever wear the same hiking uniform of shorts and t-shirt. Ah but this goes beyond mosquitoes as it is maybe a lifestyle statement or something? Same people shivering in the same uniform even late September when I'm out there on frosty mornings shooting aspen reflections at 8am Saturday mornings on the shores of North Lake on Bishop Creek. In fact I think its the same people one sees on the TV news coming back from a gambling weekend to Reno in early November caught in a surprise to them snowstorm. There they are in shorts and t-shirts their SUV nosed into a snowbank beside I80 at Donner Summit or Nyack without chains smiling and saying something dopey to a reporter. Why I wonder?

THE first line of defense is to offer as little skin to the blood suckers as possible. And then DEET that small area that is usually one's face, hands, and wrist. And then what can squeets do but annoy a person by buzzing around? Just lay there against that tree trunk, shut your eyes taking a short nap, and ignore them. Not a one bites. Just the other day I read something on another board where someone stated mosquitoes were horrible or such and they used DEET but they kept biting. I'm wondering HUH? Really? Something does not add up. Immediately I think, another one that bought some weak way watered down concoction and either didn't know what it was or was publicly embarassed to admit it. ALWAYS have something like Jungle Juice available in your pack even if you have never used it, don't want to use it, or don't plan to use it. Such a teenee weight for the container and just maybe you'll learn some reality.

Head nets. Why would anyone buy one of the over the hat headnet designs that don't have a circular band like the military headnets to keep the netting off away from one's head? How is that going to stop biting when 100 are buzzing around and 99 will land on you the first few moments you stop to sit down on a log by the trail?

You STINK!!! And mosquitoes love love love you way more than the gal in your group that always seems to bother taking a dip in the lake or performs a sponge wash when you reach your destination. Oh the lake water isn't pleasantly warm like the water in the shower at the motel. True.

[AlmostThere]

Just the other day I read something on another board where someone stated mosquitoes were horrible or such and they used DEET but they kept biting. I'm wondering HUH? Really? Something does not add up.

FYI, I never ever wear shorts. The mosquitoes were biting me through the heavy nylon/cotton blend of 5.11 tactical pants, on the knees, when I was sitting down to tie on a lure. I was wearing my SAR uniform last weekend.

They also bit through my wool socks, just at the tops of my shoes. Under the cuffs of the pants.

They also bit through the shirt I was wearing, just under the edge of the backpack. I found a trio of red raised spots there.

Everywhere else I apparently got good coverage with the big bottle o' DEET - they did not bite my bare arms, which had 12 hour Ultrathon smeared all over - except for one elbow where I failed to get good coverage. The headnet works great with my Sunday Afternoon hat, keeping the netting a good six inches away from skin. I sprayed shoulders, legs, back, etc. with Ben's and had good results with only three applications over a 10 hour period. No need for 100% and melted plastics.