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.

Trail Dames Go Hiking

When I lived in Durham NC, my hiking buddies and I frequently hiked one of the two 6-mile loops at Umstead State Park, or the 3-mile loop around Lake Johnson. Walking amongst trees, with dirt and rock underfoot, feeds my soul at levels that defy verbiage.

Now that I live in Atlanta, I have yet to find places I want to go hiking. I live in the shadow of Stone Mountain, and have enjoyed the 2-mile roundtrip to the top a few times. And the local park's 1-mile paved loop is fun. But I'm wanting more.

I ran across an Atlanta hiking group on Meet Up--The Atlanta Wilderness Backpackers (http://backpackers.meetup.com/126/). They seem to be active, with frequent overnight trips. But in reading postings that indicate that they like to hike 10 miles a day, I know the group is too young or too fit for my needs. That's not to say that they wouldn't welcome my joining and offering to lead more modest trips, but I'm not ready to get that involved at this point.

While on that site though, I saw a "related link" to the Meet Up group for Trail Dames (http://www.meetup.com/traildames/), which describes itself as a "hiking club for women of a curvy nature." Now, that's more what I'm looking for! Yes, I'm getting curvier, now 12 pounds heavier than when I finished hiking in June. But that's not the primary draw. What I'm excited about is their hiking for the simple joy of hiking. All the photos show women smiling, having fun. That's what it's all about!

So, I've now joined Trail Dames, and am looking forward to an outing with them. Very fun!

Teaching Hiking

For the past 8 years, I have called myself a "hiker," and now that I have 3500+ A.T. miles on hipbelt, I know I have gained hiking expertise enough to share.

For all of my lifetime, I have called myself a "teacher." The teaching roles have looked different at different times, but in general I'm happiest when I'm facilitating someone else's learning or growth process.

Since 2000, I have been blessed to be both "hiker" and "teacher" simultaneously, as I've had the opportunity to teach hiking with teenage Girl Scouts. What an honor and privilege! And so much fun!

Now that I have moved 300 miles away from that Girl Scout program, I am looking for new opportunities to teach hiking. One possibility is to work with the Girl Scouts and their leaders here in Atlanta. Another possibility is to join the staff of organizations that lead people on trips. Or, maybe I'll start my own such organization. I'm not sure yet, but teaching hiking is definitely a passion, so I'll find something...

I'm open to suggestions!

Back to Blogging

My last post was in the middle of summer, and here it is almost winter. Since then I've done almost no hiking, a little bit of teaching hiking, and a lot of introspection. Before it becomes en vogue to make resolutions, I'm making one to keep my blogs more current... Stay tuned to see how well I do with that!

Photos at My End Points

It's traditional for A.T. 2000-milers to send their "finish" photos to all those who supported them during their hike. If you happen to be in a trail town along the A.T., stop in at a motel, hostel, outfitter, or restaurant and look for a bulletin board with lots of these photos posted. Most show someone at the sign on Mt. Katahdin, as most 2000-milers finish at Katahdin. As my hike was in 5 sections (counting the final 3.8-mile section), I have five finishes, though two were at essentially the same place.

On 03 June 2007, I finished the section from Damascus, VA to Springer Mtn, GA:


On 20 Sep 2007, I finished the section from Killington, VT to Mt. Katahdin, ME:



I finished in the Port Clinton area twice. I hiked south from Killington, VT, and got to Port Clinton, PA on 28Nov07. An impending winter storm encouraged me to get a ride south 50 miles to Duncannon, PA and hike the section northbound back to Port Clinton. (It would put me in a better place to sit out the storm, if necessary.) I hiked one day northbound, but on the second day, the wind chill was too cold. So, on 01Dec07, I got off-trail at a remote road crossing between Duncannon and Port Clinton. As I sat out the storm, I decided to stop hiking until spring, as the constant eye on the weather was not how I wanted to spend my hike. I don't have a photo of that unexpected finish.

This spring I set out northbound from Damascus, VA. Two days shy of Duncannon, I was hit with food poisoning, which made me very tired and unable to eat much. But I had less than 100 miles to go, and about a week to do it. So, I rented a car and "slackpacked" the rest of my hike. That means I carried just a daypack during the day, and slept indoors at night. Each day I parked the car at the end of the day's hike and got a ride back to the start of the day's hike. I skipped the day-and-a-half section I'd hiked out of Duncannon. This worked really well, and, other than being ill for five days, was a terrific way to end the journey. My last three nights were spent in the 501 Shelter, pictured here. I finished this section on 06 June 2008.

I finished the entire journey by hiking a gap I left last year: 3.8 miles in the Smokies, from the Fork Ridge Trail up to the summit of Clingmans Dome. Here's a photo of me near the summit on Independence Day, 2008:


My little green and blue friend is Hike Monkey, who hiked the trail with me.

Happy trails,
Em

2000-Miler

I just put my 2000-miler application in the mail to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC). Yippee!

"2000-Miler" is the designation for people who have walked all (not just 2000) of the miles of the Appalachian Trail. "2000" was chosen as a nice round number, as the length of the trail changes from year to year due to minor relocations that are done for various reasons. (In 2007, the official length was 2174 miles.)

The ATC doesn't care if you walk all of the miles in one year (a "thru-hike") or in sections over multiple years (a "section-hike"). They also don't care how much weight you carry or how fast you walk (or run). Or, if you go northbound (NOBO) or southbound (SOBO) or a combination thereof. But if you miss any of the trail's white blazes, it needs to be on an official detour route for bad weather, forest fire, construction, etc.

My hike in 2007-2008 started out as a thru-hike, but it ended up that I didn't finish within 12 months, so it's officially a section hike. Rather than starting at one end and hiking to the other, I chose a unique itinerary, mostly because prior commitments required me to be off trail for most of June and July in 2007.

The itinerary of my 2007-2008 hike was:

Mar 24 - Mar 27, 2007:
SOBO - Pearisburg, VA to VA 606 (~24 mi)

Apr 09 - Jun 03, 2007:
SOBO - Damascus, VA to Springer Mtn, GA (~470 mi)
[minus 3.8 mi on the north side of Clingmans Dome]

Jul 24 - Sep 20, 2007:
NOBO - Killington, VT to Mt. Katahdin, ME (~500 mi)

Sep 25 - Dec 01, 2007:
SOBO - Killington, VT to Port Clinton, PA (~450 mi)
[plus 17 mi NOBO from Duncannon, PA to PA 325]

Apr 06 - Jun 06, 2008:
NOBO - Damascus, VA to Port Clinton, PA (~720 mi)
[minus VA 606 to Pearisburg, and Duncannon to PA325]

Jul 04, 2008:
SOBO - Fork Ridge Trail to Clingmans Dome summit (3.8 mi)

What a fabulous itinerary! In spring last year, I hiked south in the section where the folks who'd started in Georgia were hiking north. I loved meeting them as we passed!

Then in the summer, I dropped into the middle of the pack and got to hike north with them. I remembered many of them, mostly from their trail names. Many were hiking faster than me, so I'd see them for a day or two once or twice, but some were hiking the same pace as me, so I got to have some trail family, which is really great. I summited Katahdin on Sept 20th with Partner, Stand By Me, and Route 66, whom I had met on my first or second night out in July. Awesome!

I "flipped" right back to Killington and headed south, expecting to see and hike with some of the folks who'd started in Maine. But I ended up having to be off trail for 2.5 weeks in October, so I got behind the pack and had quite a lot of solitude as the "last southbounder of 2007." By late November, there were winter storms passing through every five days or so, and the nights were consistently below freezing. On Dec 1st, I woke up to 26 degrees inside the shelter; that was fine, but not when complemented by a strong northwesterly wind. I could not keep myself warm in that windchill, not even while hiking. So, I got off trail, originally just to sit out the wind and impending storm, but then decided that hiking alone in winter conditions wasn't something I wanted to do.

After four busy months of "street life," I returned to trail in April. Having had my solitude opportunity, I decided to join the "class of '08" northbounders. It was very fun hiking with them, getting to know folks and building community. I feel very blessed to have been part of the thru-hiking community in both years.

Missing the 3.8-mile section on Clingmans Dome was a dumb glitch at the time. In the end, though, it was very cool to finish this journey at the A.T.'s highest point, and on Independence Day! :-)

So, I'm now a 2000-miler, or, I will be when they send me my patch and certificate. And that is very cool.

Happy trails,
Em