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Terrifying Effigies posted:
You should be fine without. It's usually wet, slushy and warm snow rather than icy. Graupel is common too.
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May 11, 2018 19:15
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I feel like the ticks in California are super bad this year; I've barely had any trouble with them for years but the past few weekends I've been flicking a bunch of them off me on every outing
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May 12, 2018 23:26
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I'm in a couple Lyme support groups on Facebook and everyone is talking about how ticks are really bad all over the continent this year.
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May 13, 2018 01:06
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I extracted 7 ticks from my legs today. And that was with a fresh application of permethrin and 100% DEET on my exposed skin. God bless tick keys. Today I went for a long hike. Up to now, my longest have been 20 milers and I've been wondering whether I could do a marathon-distance hike. I decided on Tuesday to do it, so there wasn't any prep other than doing 4 ~17 milers over the last 6 Saturdays. So I went out to Land Between the Lakes, which has a ~60 mile North/South trail, and I did the southern section totaling 28.5 miles. If you had told me 5 or 6 years ago that I would have the inclination or ability to do that hike, I would have laughed and taken another swig of vodka. When I got sober, I couldn't walk more than a mile without becoming exhausted and my thighs chafing. Today was very satisfying. Feels good, man. Feels reeeeeaal good.
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May 13, 2018 01:58
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Flambeau posted:I extracted 7 ticks from my legs today. And that was with a fresh application of permethrin and 100% DEET on my exposed skin. God bless tick keys. Dang, that's super awesome! Longest I've ever done in a day was ~24 miles, feels great to get into that rhythm and rack up the distance. Tick chat - had my first actual tick bite in +5 years a few weeks back but didn't have DEET on due to being lazy and still having regular freezes. Last Fall/Winter seems to have been extra kind on the East Coast woodland mammal population so the ticks are going to be breeding like crazy.
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May 13, 2018 02:15
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You guys have me paranoid now. Is there any prevention for lyme other than "don't get bit/unlucky"?
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May 13, 2018 02:35
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As far as I know, just remove them asap. Supposedly they need like 24 hours, but I check during the hike and as soon as I get home. Also watch for bulls-eye rashes and unusual fatigue or fluish symptoms within a couple weeks. Most tick-borne diseases (there are other nasty ones besides Lyme) are supposedly treatable if noticed early...
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May 13, 2018 03:00
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Bottom Liner posted:You guys have me paranoid now. Is there any prevention for lyme other than "don't get bit/unlucky"? I basically look at this way, if my hobby was “loving as many people as possible”, it’s p likely I would end up with herpes, if my hobby is “spending as much time in the woods as possible” it’s p likely I will end up with lyme. [img] https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/images/maps/2015-dot-map.jpg[/img] I live on the southern end of the blue blob. In both cases there are things you can do to mitigate the risk, but if you play the odds long enough you are gonna loose.
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May 13, 2018 03:02
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Bottom Liner posted:You guys have me paranoid now. Is there any prevention for lyme other than "don't get bit/unlucky"? The big thing I think is treating clothing with permethrin. Check out this link: https://sectionhiker.com/treating-your-clothes-with-permethrin/ Treat your clothing, still use bug spray, wear long sleeve shirts and pants, and check yourself thoroughly when you're done for the day. I'm still pissed that thanks to anti-vaccers there is no human vaccine for Lymes even though I can give my dog a booster shot for it once a year.
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May 13, 2018 03:51
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 I like this one. I guess the best prevention is living on the West coast. Picnic, did you get bit in Banff?
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May 13, 2018 03:53
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Bottom Liner posted:You guys have me paranoid now. Don't forget about Alpha-gal allergy! 
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May 13, 2018 03:58
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There's a lot less poo poo in Colorado than I assumed there would be. I need to get better about checking myself for ticks after outdoor activities for sure. I was used to doing it back in Missouri but haven't really thought about it much here.
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May 13, 2018 04:06
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Verman posted:
One of my hiking buddies has a great story about this. Basically him and his wife were staying at this campground in Tennessee, and it was getting late. Most of the other people had already turned in for the night except for another couple across the way, who were sitting in their tent, playing cards. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a big black cat with a stripe down its back waddle up to his camp and start sniffing around. Realizing it was a skunk, they just left it alone until it lost interest and wandered off to the next camp, where he hears someone yelling "Honey, get the broom!" Thankfully, even though that very nearly ended very badly for everyone in the entire campground, Jeff was able to talk the guy down. A few minutes later he sees a light bobbing down the trail and shining at people's campsites one by one, so he walked over to see what the deal was. Soon as he walks up, the guy with the lights goes, "Have you seen him mister? I've been tracking the biggest black bear I ever seen!" Soon as he said that he looks at the tent with the couple playing cards and notices a big black shadow snuffling beside the tent, so he decides to go over and tell the couple just in case they have food or something inside the tent. He walks up to the tent and says "Excuse me". The guy unzipped the tent and poked his head out, and Jeff said "Look, I don't want to freak you out, but just so you know there's a bear sniffing around your campsite." Soon as the lady in the tent hears this, she drops the cards, and goes "Bear?!?!" and rips open the zipper, fleeing into the night with her white gown flowing behind her. The guy turns around, looks the bear right in the eye, puts his fist right up in the bear's muzzle, and says "Do you know how many years it's taken me to get her out here?!" Bottom Liner posted:You guys have me paranoid now. Is there any prevention for lyme other than "don't get bit/unlucky"? Has anyone else here tried picaridin? One of my hiking buddies was talking about it, says that the clothes he's treated with it he sees bugs turn away mid dive bomb. It's also apparently much less toxic than permethrin (specifically to pregnant women, cats, kids), and I guess it's just been a European thing for awhile so that's why I've just never really heard much about it before? You guys ever try it or use it?
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May 13, 2018 04:42
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Flambeau posted:
Not necessarily true, I flicked off two different ticks while in the grand canyon the other week. Nowhere is safe  Alehkhs posted:Don't forget about Alpha-gal allergy! I was just about to mention that! I don't know which is worse, Lyme disease, or stuck being vegan against your will
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May 13, 2018 04:50
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OSU_Matthew posted:I was just about to mention that! I don't know which is worse, Lyme disease, or stuck being vegan against your will  While alpha-gal allergy does cause a reaction to red meat, it doesn’t even force you to become vegetarian since fish and poultry don’t trigger it.
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May 13, 2018 05:51
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It really does seem to come down to luck. I didn’t have a single tick the entire AT and didn’t treat my clothes and yet there were plenty of people who did the whole 9 with their equipment and still had to pick them off. Death to ticks
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May 13, 2018 14:45
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fknlo posted:There's a lot less poo poo in Colorado than I assumed there would be. I need to get better about checking myself for ticks after outdoor activities for sure. I was used to doing it back in Missouri but haven't really thought about it much here. Not to worry. In Colorado it’s the weather that’s going to kill you.
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May 13, 2018 16:55
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I use a picaridin spray and it does work great and is all around less awful then deet. I disagree about long pants though, unless I am gonna be in high grass all day I wanna be in shortest shorts I can get to let me find and remove ticks before the bite. I blast my legs with picaridin and almost never have one actually attach itself. I think at this point I am so hyper sensitive I can feel them almost as soon as then jump on.
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May 13, 2018 20:16
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Flambeau posted:
Honestly, I have no idea. It is the area I've spent most of my time, but I've also been outdoorsy in Utah, and also in SE Asia, Australia, NZ, Mexico. My issues started well before I lived off the grid in Belize so it wasn't there. I don't remember ever being bit by a tick and I do check. But I have reason to believe I may have missed some times that mattered. Here's the thing: according to Alberta Health there is zero risk of Lyme here. But the most recent study was done 40 years ago. They are doing a new study this year finally and I'm pretty sure their findings are going to change. If I had to guess when I may have been bitten and not noticed, I think it was my scrambling accident back in May 2011. I was very badly injured, bleeding a lot. Sitting off trail for 2 hours in tick high season, I was surrounded by bighorn sheep at one point. I ended up on bed rest for 4 days because my body was in too much pain to do anything. My weird health problems started manifesting in 2012. If I was ever bit, I think that would have been the time.
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May 13, 2018 21:30
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I hike and trail run all the time in the southern Appalachians, and still no ticks. They are in my area (I’m based in Knoxville), so I guess I’ve been lucky. The last time I had a tick on me was during a field exercise at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina back in the 90’s. Watch me get a tick next weekend after saying that.
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May 14, 2018 01:39
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Today was a great day for a desert hike in the Mountain Empire part of San Diego County, right before the 8 drops down into Imperial County and Ocotillo. It was ~75 in Jacumba Hot Springs compared to ~95 in Ocotillo which is only 13ish miles further east. So I decided to check out the Valley of the Moon trail, which ended up being about 7.5 miles.  The Jacumba Wilderness Area is a nice place for people to take their Jeeps offroading, but since I don't have a 4x4 I had to walk up the road.  Looking northeast after getting up the road.  Some cacti still have flowers.    Somewhere down in that mess of rocks is the border with Mexico. GPS said I got within 50 feet of it but I didn't see any markers.  On the way back I did find the fence though. It was just a lot of rusted barbed wire that was falling over in random spots that had no indication of foot traffic.  On the way out before getting back onto the Jeep road down to where I parked a mile away.
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May 16, 2018 22:54
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After working on night vision systems for almost ten years, I finally had a chance to try hiking at night by night vision on Tuesday. This has cured me of my desire to try a hike by night vision ever again.
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May 17, 2018 13:05
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Mr. Powers posted:After working on night vision systems for almost ten years, I finally had a chance to try hiking at night by night vision on Tuesday. This has cured me of my desire to try a hike by night vision ever again.
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May 17, 2018 14:22
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CopperHound posted:Combination of killing both your peripheral and natural night vision? Not so much the natural night vision. We did this Tuesday which was a moonless night with partial cloud cover, so you had some star light to navigate by, but it was for all intents and purposes a pitch black night. Peripheral vision was gone, though. It was like navigating while looking through paper towel tubes. I would try it again if I had an opportunity to use the panoramic night vision systems.
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May 17, 2018 16:51
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Crossposting this from the Take a Hike subforum: My partner and I are looking at spending some time in Zion National Park and are wanting to experience as much as we can while avoiding the crowds. I know in recent years that the parks have become bloated with tourists, which kinda sucks, so I figure that by doing at least one multi-day hike we will get somewhere isolated. So far we've got The Narrows and Angel's Landing on the list. Our plan was to catch a shuttle from Las Vegas up to Zion, spend however long in Zion and the head back to Vegas for a few days. If we had a car we'd be able to store our luggage in that while we went hiking, so does anyone know if there's the ability to rent a locker to store a suitcase for a couple of days at the park? Any recommendations for what to see nature-wise in Vegas would also be appreciated. I missed out on seeing Hoover Dam last time, so that's on the list. Grand Canyon has already been done. Are the Valley of Fire and Red Rock Canyon parks any good? What about the more civilised activities in Vegas? We were planning on doing a bunch of shopping, dining and day activities out post-nature before heading home. Another goon suggested taking a shuttle to the Western Rim trail and hiking back to the canyon. We're looking at visiting in a few months so I'm trying to get a bombproof schedule as soon as I can. I'm not so concerned with budget or length of hike at this stage. I'd rather get all of the suggestions and cherrypick what works best for us on the day.
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May 18, 2018 04:25
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Fall Dog posted:Crossposting this from the Take a Hike subforum: You won't be escaping the crowds by hitting The Narrows or Angel's Landing, but if you manage to get ~3+ miles away from most other trail heads, you'll find a lot more solitude. If you have 4 or 5 days, you can backpack across the entire park (Zion Traverse). Outside of Vegas, Red Rock Canyon is definitely worth checking out -- even if you just drive the loop and get out at a few of the view points. There are some trails too if you have more time. Civilization wise, I like to spend very little time on the actual strip in Vegas. Use yelp and go to places that locals eat (hint: none of it is on the strip). Downtown (north of the strip) is a fun experience too. Cheaper hotels/gambling/drinks.
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May 18, 2018 18:55
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Fall Dog posted:Crossposting this from the Take a Hike subforum: Not sure about storage lockers in Zion or anywhere nearby, you may be stuck holding onto your gear for a while. Unless you're AT the start of Angels Landing or The Narrows at 5-6AM you wont be beating the crowds and even then there will still be people. A few years ago my girlfriend and I spent 5 days and Zion. We hiked the whole park West to East starting in the Kolob canyon area and going over to the eastern rim. You can get a shuttle to take you and pick you up. Kolob was really cool and we enjoyed that part, then you hike through a canyon thats full of cows and cowpies, still cool just not as fun. Descending the rim into the main valley is fun too. Basically its a hard hike to beat if you have the time off. The eastern part of the park we basically had to ourselves. I think we saw 2 people on our last day there just as we were walking out. BaseballPCHiker fucked around with this message at 20:31 on May 18, 2018 |
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May 18, 2018 20:24
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Kolob roads are closed for 7 months. No vehicles or hiking will be permitted inside the closure as of May 1st, so keep that in mind when planning. Some parts are still accessible "Visitors will be able to access the La Verkin Creek Trail and hike to the Kolob Arch via the Hop Valley Trail, which can be accessed from the Kolob Terrace Road off state Route 9 in Virgin. Overnight trips require a permit."
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May 18, 2018 20:30
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Hidden Canyon and Observation Point are two hikes we found a little less crowded and awesome in Zion. Still in Zion no matter what start early as possible. There is no such thing as too early in Zion.
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May 19, 2018 00:54
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Fall Dog posted:
This is the response I got from the Zion National Park: Hi, Unfortunately there are no public storage areas in the park. If you are not renting a car, we suggest you pack lightly so that everything fits in your backpack. ----------- So the issue I have with this is the feeling of being penalised for wanting to utilise public transport to visit Zion. The attitude seems to be "well just take a car" but why hire a car just to leave it in the parking lot for a few days? Seems like a pretty stupid idea considering people are always complaining about the traffic congestion. Am I weird for wanting to do two different things on a single vacation that require two different sets of equipment/clothing? Is there something obvious I'm missing here?
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May 19, 2018 01:50
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Fall Dog posted:This is the response I got from the Zion National Park: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g61001-d2716775-Reviews-Zion_Outfitter-Springdale_Utah.html This place has lockers people use when renting stuff for the narrows. I'm sure you could call them and ask about renting storage with or without Narrows gear.
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May 19, 2018 02:25
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Fall Dog posted:This is the response I got from the Zion National Park: Learn to pack light. Let go of your material possessions.
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May 19, 2018 02:26
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Tsyni posted:Learn to pack light. Let go of your material possessions. Everyone should go on a thru hike and learn this. It felt weird moving back to an apartment because we just had so much poo poo and I didn’t feel at all upset when we sold or junked a lot of it.
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May 19, 2018 02:55
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George H.W. oval office posted:Everyone should go on a thru hike and learn this. It felt weird moving back to an apartment because we just had so much poo poo and I didn’t feel at all upset when we sold or junked a lot of it. Pretty sure I know how to pack light. My point was that it just seems to be an attitude of hiking is the sole purpose of a vacation or it's not. Apparently you're not entitled to a vacation with a bit of hiking halfway through because that's a crazy idea.
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May 19, 2018 03:13
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Fall Dog posted:Pretty sure I know how to pack light. My point was that it just seems to be an attitude of hiking is the sole purpose of a vacation or it's not. Apparently you're not entitled to a vacation with a bit of hiking halfway through because that's a crazy idea. Sure you are, but the NPS is not obligated to oblige your every whim and need either. They area already over-worked, under-funded, and Zion in particular is small facility wise for it's crowd level.
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May 19, 2018 03:31
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Can you check your luggage into your hotel early? They might be able to hold it for you
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May 19, 2018 03:39
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Fall Dog posted:This is the response I got from the Zion National Park: Where are you planning to stay and why can’t you leave your luggage there?
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May 19, 2018 07:13
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Maybe I'm the weird one that just takes my hiking backpack on vacation with me.
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May 19, 2018 07:23
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We have mailed stuff to hotels many times. Call them ahead of time and make sure they don’t mind holding your stuff.
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May 19, 2018 12:19
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Fall Dog posted:This is the response I got from the Zion National Park: Don’t go to super crowded places?
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May 19, 2018 13:46
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