How to Deal With Bugs While Backpacking
Mosquitos biting your neck, ants exploring your food supply, and ticks sneaking into your pantleg are all frustratingly common experiences for backpackers. Insects are everywhere outside, but when you’re hiking through the woods you’re putting yourself right in the middle of their favorite habitat.
Though it is impossible to avoid bugs entirely when you’re in the woods, you can take some action to minimize your exposure to them. Below are some tips for how to keep the bugs at bay while you’re backpacking. There’s also advice on what to do if they get you despite your best efforts.
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Wear Protective Clothing
One thing you can do to keep bugs from ruining your trip is wear clothing that will protect you from them. Chemically treated clothing or clothes that cover you up can do the trick. These types of clothing treatments can help anyone deal with bugs, even in densely populated areas.
Permethrin Treated Clothes
Permethrin is an odorless, colorless clothing treatment developed by the US military to protect soldiers from insect bites. It has since become wide spread for consumer use. This synthetic molecule bonds with the fibers of treated material for long-lasting protection against insects.
It acts as a contact insecticide, so it will kill ticks and insects when they come in contact with it. While it may not be instantaneous death, it certainly deters bugs from landing on you.
You can purchase brands of clothing that are already professionally treated. These brands can last for 70 washes before the treatment wears off. If you’d rather treat your own clothing, you can purchase a permethrin spray. Doing it yourself may not last as long as the factory treated clothing, but if you do it correctly it should be as effective. Here is the permethrin treatment we recommend.
Head Nets, Jackets and Pants
You can also deter bugs from landing on you by simply covering up with the right backpacking clothes. Wearing loose-fitting clothing that are made from a tightly woven fabric, such as nylon, can keep your arms and legs out of reach from insects. Thin, easily penetrated materials such as cotton or spandex won’t provide enough protection from insect bites.
Head nets are excellent for keeping mosquitos and flies from buzzing around your face and biting your neck. Any insect that tries to land on your head will be blocked by the netting. They may not be the most stylish hats, but the are the most effective at blocking bugs from reaching your face. Would you rather look like a dork, or hear that high pitch sound of a mosquito buzzing around your head all day?
Use Bug Spray
Insect repellent is a popular method for keeping the bugs from driving you crazy when backpacking, hiking or camping. It can be effective if you get the right kind and use it correctly.
Insect repellent is actually a misleading word for bug spray because the ingredients in it don’t repel insects. Rather it blocks the receptors they use to detect things that they want to bite. Bugs use both odor and visual cues to find their victims, and the chemicals in repellent interferes with those cues.
DEET based repellents are one of the most popular types because DEET is incredibly effective at deterring bugs. It is a man-made chemical that keeps mosquitoes, ticks, and flies from landing on you. I wont get into the many different theories on how exactly DEET works, just know that using it can save you from getting covered in those itchy, nasty lumps bug bites create. Always bring a small spray or lotion in your backpack and make sure it is easily accessible.
Avoid Disturbing Nests
Not all bugs that bite are out to get you. Bees, wasps and hornets don’t attack people for fun and they don’t get their food from us either. They usually only sting when they feel threatened. Unfortunately, you might unwillingly threaten them if you disturb a nest that you didn’t notice.
While backpacking, be sure to keep an eye out for nests. They may be found hanging from branches, hidden beneath logs or in stumps, tucked away in a hollow tree, or in the ground. The discreteness of some nests make them easy to overlook. Getting too close to one can make you a target for their stings.
Keep an eye out for areas where a lot of these insects seem to be gathering and avoid getting near. While on the trail, look around for nests that may be hanging over the trail and avoid walking directly under one if you spot it. Evaluate your campsite as well to see if there are any hollow stumps or logs that may be home to a hive.
Check for Ticks
When you’re backpacking, chances are that you’re going to come in contact with some ticks. Ticks are pesky little insects that latch onto you, suck your blood, and have the potential to carry harmful diseases such as Lyme Disease.
Ticks can be found in any wooden areas or areas with tall grass and bushes. Even if you don’t recall brushing up against a tree or bush, they somehow manage to find their way onto your body. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear they had wings.
Luckily, they can’t fly. Nonetheless, you must check yourself every day you are hiking or backpacking. Look over your skin for dark brown or black insects, some of them can be as small as the head of a pin so make sure you are being thorough. Ticks like dark, warm places so pay extra attention to your armpits and groin. Run your hands through your hair as well and feel your scalp for any lumps. They like to hide out in long hair.
Checking frequently will reduce your chances of having one attach to you.
What to Do if You Find a Tick
If one is crawling on you but isn’t attached, pick it off and use a rock to smash it or toss it in the campfire. Avoid smashing it with your hand or fingernails because ticks carry a lot of harmful bacteria in their body that you do not want on your skin.
If one is attached to you, get out some tweezers or floss to carefully grip the head of the tick and slowly pull it out of your skin. Don’t squeeze the body! This can send some of the contents of the tick into your wound which may be dangerous.
Removing the head is important because it may lead to an infection if left inside your skin. This is why it’s important to use a tool like tweezers to remove them – be sure to keep a pair in your first aid kit!
If you have been bitten, keep an eye on the area and your own health. Look out for a fever, aches, redness or swelling. A common sign of Lymes disease is a round, bulls-eye like rash around the location of the bite1. Any of these symptoms warrant a visit to your doctor.
Learn more about how to deal with ticks here!
How to Deal With Bug Bites
I hate to break it to you, but chances are you’re going to get a couple of bug bites when you’re backpacking. Some trips you’ll get more than others and there may be a few lucky trips where you get barely any at all! Since this is a fact of life in the woods, you should know how to deal with these bug bites with grace.
Don’t Itch!
The most important rule of bug bites is do not itch them. This is also the hardest rule to follow. If they are mosquito bites or fly bites, you’re going to want to itch the heck out of them. The saliva from mosquitos contain compounds that cause an allergic reaction in most humans. Our body’s reaction to this is to release histamines to fight it, which causes itching.
Itching a bug bite can cause the skin to break, exposing yourself to secondary infections from the dirt and bacteria under your fingernails2. It can also prolong the healing process or cause scarring.
Use Anti-Itch Cream or Antihistamine
Applying an anti-itch cream to the bite can limit the desire to scratch at the area. Make sure you clean your hands before applying the cream to avoid getting any dirt or bacteria on the area. The cream might take a little time to work, so be patient and keep your hands away from the area.
Taking an antihistamine can also help reduce the itch and swelling. The body releases histamines to fight the allergic reaction caused by the saliva of the insect. Using antihistamines can combat the symptoms this natural response causes, such as itching. Be sure to bring these along in your first aid kit for itch relief.
Conclusion
When going backpacking, you are going to come face-to-face with some creepy crawlies. Some might bite you, some might just check you out, others won’t really pay attention to you at all. Help them keep their distance by using insect repellent and protective clothing. If they get in your space, know how to safely remove them and how to properly treat any injuries they inflict on you. These tips will help you deal with bugs you encounter on every trip.
Cover photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
