Permethrin to Repel Ticks

Ticks, especially deer ticks, are well-known pests on trail. In reading hikers' stories, it seems to me that the number of long-distance A.T. hikers getting lyme disease is only increasing.

Doing a tick check every day is essential, but far from foolproof. Deer ticks are the size of a pinhead, easily hidden and overlooked during a tick check.

I strongly recommend that hikers use permethrin to protect themselves from ticks.

I treat my hiking clothes with permethrin before I start hiking and then about once a month while I'm on trail. On each item, I treat only the entry points:

• tops of socks
• top and bottom edges of gaiters
• hems and waists of pants and shorts
• hems, sleeve cuffs, and collars of shirts
• leg openings and waist opening of underwear
• headbands and hat brims

In the interest of full disclosure, I will share that when I attended a talk by a former thru-hiker, I made this recommendation to the others in the audience. The speaker strongly disagreed with my recommendation. He didn't believe that treating clothes is effective and urged the audience instead to treat their skin directly with a 100% DEET insect repellent.

I can't speak to the effectiveness of permethrin except to say that in my 3500 miles of A.T. hiking, I have found only a few ticks on me, none imbedded. If there were others, I didn't find them. And I have not been stricken with Lyme. This doesn't prove efficacy; maybe I just naturally repel ticks, or maybe I have just been lucky.

(Note: For about 100 of these miles, I also used low-level DEET repellant; otherwise permethrin has been my only repellant.)

Another anecdote to support the effectivenss of permethrin... One day a tick happened across my path while I was treating clothes. I set the tick on my treated sock, and it acted like a cat in the snow, lifting each leg high off the fabric as it sought escape. That still doesn't prove anything, especially since the sock was still wet. (I haven't run the experiment on a treated item after it has dried.)

Regardless of whether a hiker uses DEET or other insect repellant, treating clothes with permethrin surely can't hurt. And it surely might help.

A Thank You to Jasmine

While hiking solo on the A.T. in November 2007, I caught my toe on a rock and did a serious faceplant into a collection of Pennsylvania rocks. As I was mid-stride at the time, my hands were tied to my trekking poles, so I landed on my side, making contact with my shoulder and my head. Did I mention the rock garden? Yeah, so my head smacked one of those rocks as I landed.

My first thought was "Oh, that was not good!" As I eased myself and my pack back into vertical orientation, my next thought was, "Angels, I need help...now!"

Solo long-distance hiking has given me an opportunity to deepen my faith, both my faith in other people on the planet and my faith in the spiritual realm. By the time of this faceplant, I was practiced at calling on angels when I needed assistance, especially my guardian angels and Archangel Michael. Practiced, because every time I called on them, they were there. This time was no different.

Not 30 seconds had passed after my request for help, when I looked up to see a woman hiking down the trail towards me. This might not have been unusual in the middle of summer, but in November there were very few other hikers on the trail.

Her name was Jasmine. Or at least that's what I remember; honestly, I'm not sure. I asked her for help and she agreed to walk with me the 1.5 miles to the next road crossing, at Little Gap. For the 45 minutes it took us to get to the road, she kept asking me questions, which not only distracted me from my injury but also allowed her to continuously assess my level of consciousness. I knew that's what she was doing, and I was grateful.

Jasmine waited with me at the road until I reached someone who would pick me up and take me to a place to stay for a couple of nights (where I iced a goose egg and endured a headache but otherwise was okay). Then she continued her own solo journey.

She was out for a four-day spiritual retreat of her own. As the ridge was blanketed with 6-10 inches of snow over the next couple of days, I thought of her often, wishing her the love and light she so generously gave me for that one hour on a Friday afternoon in November.

Jasmine, if that's your name and if by chance you ever read this, know that I will always be grateful to the angels who lead you across my path and to you for stopping and helping me. I wish I had thought to ask for your name and contact information before you hiked away; I would rather have written this note to you directly. Nonetheless, thank you. May your kindness return to you nine-fold.