THE TICKS ARE OUT IN ELDO

The Permethrin (spelling?) really does work. I used it 2 springs in a row, treated my usual climbing socks, pants and shirt with it one time and it last for about 6 weeks. Not a tick in sight and by the time it's wearing off the ticks are dying out anyways due to hot weather.

The only downside to Permethrin is applying it to your clothes....it's so chemical-y that you feel like you're going to grow a 3rd eye or something. But perhaps it's worth it?! I hate ticks, yuck!!!

I have 0 scientific data to back this claim up but, I have found consistently (back here in the Northeast in CT) that my dark blue Carhartts attract less ticks then any other pant I wear.

Other things I do is to alter my walking style in the spring and check thoroughly after walking through any brush. I spend a lot of time wacking bushes looking for new areas to develop so I get plenty of opportunities to pick ticks off me. When I walk I concentrate on stepping straight up and down, think high knee step, and try not to drag my feet forwards through leaves and brush. This probably isn't relevant to CO...

But seriously I don't know if it's that the canvass is harder for them to grab or something but I def notice a huge difference between my tick count when I don't wear my carhartts.

Brought one home from Creekside last friday. Talk about creeped out... No bueno!

Locker wrote:Bob Robinson: "I found a couple in Castlewood Canyon on Saturday too"... What part of the park were you at? East or West side? I've only climbed there three years now, and have yet to see a single tick. Now you got me all BUGGED. LOL!

Hey Locker,

I was just bouldering near the Creekside Boulders up the hill and in the trees. They were the first ticks I've ever seen there as well. Creeped me out.

You guys are lucky. I've been covered in the south many many times. I have only gotten one in Colorado out at lumpy

Well, one big advantage to living in northern Minnesota: with a foot of snow still on the ground, we ain't got no stinkin' bugs (yet)!

Watch out for un-explained painless rashes (they do not always look like a bullseye!!!) and mysterious symptoms! Seven years ago I was lethargic in the mornings, had body aches come and go and even had a few days of un-explained painful teeth. It turned out to be Lyme disease and it's not fun. A whole month of horse-pill size antibiotics and I was fortunently all better. However... I never found an embedded tick on me and learned that the most dangerous ticks are the ones the size of a pencil point. Be careful out there and maybe use some bug juice!

Funny you say that, I was bitten by a tick in eldo last spring, I didn't notice until that night taking a shower, it had burrowed into the back of my leg. I pulled it out with tweezers, it really tore the skin badly and became infected and itchy the next day.

Went in to the the doctor and he told me that the ticks in colorado don't carry lyme disease. I wanted to ask him if he was sure, but he was one of the know-it-all doctors, so I declined. Didn't contract lyme disease but had to take antibiotic pills and skin ointment. Best to check all your clothes, gear and skin for the fuckers, they can snuggle up on your body discretely enough to where you can't feel them on your skin. Also I've had them crawl into my head and armpit hair.

Josh Janes wrote:I often feel lethargic and have unexplained aches and pains. Lyme Disease???

Josh, it's not impossible, and I know you were back here for a bit relatively recently.

The worst case of Lyme I had involved no rash or any initial symptoms that I can recall. Eventually, in addition to feeling tired, I had an increasing level of aches and pains, which I chalked up to more than a half-century of climbing and other athletics. When I finally went to the doctor and had a Lyme test, it was probably many months from the initial exposure.

It took many weeks of amoxicillin, but the amazing thing was that I felt a whole lot better after just a few days of it. All those aches I had decided were just going to be a part of life just went away.

Most of the docs here are very sensitive to the possibility of Lyme. I don't know about out West, but I'd suggest you at least get tested.

Locker- Cwood has a lot. You need to check better bro. Also, they usually signal the buzzworms coming out in another 3 weeks or so.

Fuck this I'm going to the desert!!!

Sheeit! All my years climbing here and never had one nor saw one on me or my gear, not any of my partners. Thought I left those little fuckers back east.
I would much rather have a leech sucking my blood (which I have had) than these things.

Josh, ever been assaulted by the black flies at Indian Creek and around Moab?
Mo- A buddy of mine swears mosquitoes bite him less when he wears black in the summer, so maybe there's something about the dark colors.

John Marsella wrote:

Wow, check out the scutum on that guy.