Bugs in the Boundary Waters
Seems like we barely had any bugs in the Boundary Waters this summer. There were a few black flies at the beginning of the season and some mosquitoes at dusk and dawn but otherwise it hasn’t been bad.
You never know when the bugs might be bad so it is best to always be prepared. Whenever I head into the Boundary Waters or Quetico Park I always bring a bottle of bug spray with Deet in it. I don’t like to use Deet unless I have to because of what I have seen it do to other non-living materials. It can make black rubber turn to liquid and hard plastics get sticky so I can’t imagine what it does to our bodies.
When there are just a few bugs around I use a repellent made with more natural ingedients because it doesn’t have to work as hard. There are lots of good smelling repellents made from natural items but nothing works quite as well as Deet.
I bought a ThermaCell and an Off Clip On to try this year. My friend tried the ThermaCell and was impressed at how much nicer her visit to the latrine was when she used it. It is supposed to keep bugs away from a 15 x 15 area. There weren’t enough mosquitoes when I was out to try it or give the Clip On a good try.
Guess I’ll have to wait until next year to give them a try because there aren’t any bugs left in the Boundary Waters to test them on. If you’ve had good success with any of the new gadgets or more natural repellents then let me know, Id love to test them out next year.