Let's Talk About Bugs

Thanks for checking back on our webpage! We can't talk about walking in the UP woods without talking about bugs. While the UP is known for all of the natural beauty, it is also famous (at least regionally) for the intensity of the bugs. Dealing with "the bug season" is as much a part of UP culture as forests and lakes. Even the term "bug season" is a bit of a misnomer, as there are many types of bugs, each living through various seasons and weather conditions. 

We have mosquitoes, a large assortment of biting flies, and of course, ticks. Mosquitoes are probably most associated with UP lore, as they can be quite ferocious at their peak. This has been a "pretty good" year for mosquitoes., which in the local parlance means they haven't been too numerous. They have been present while walking in the woods for the past couple of months. In my opinion, they are the least problematic of the critters trying to get your blood in the woods. They make noise when they fly, land conspicuously (usually) and carefully position themselves, like a nurse starting an IV, before attempting to insert their proboscis. This provides plenty of warning to swat them away before they actually stick you. 

Much more problematic, again in my opinion, are what we call black flies. These are distinguished from deer flies, horse flies, sand flies, and the infamous "noseeums." Black flies are vicious little bastards. They often travel in large packs, land (and bite) without you noticing, and open up a (frequently) bleeding hole. They leave me with welts similar to what I get from a bee sting. Additionally they like to crawl into your hair, or under your clothes before biting. All of the other flies, with the exception of the noseeums, are large, obvious, and mostly just annoying. Noseeums are so small as to be almost invisible (they can easy travel through the average window screen,) but their bite is more of an annoyance with no long term consequences. And who doesn't like their name? Derived from the fact that you can't seeum.

And then of course, there are the ticks. Again, they seem only a minor inconvenience, compared to the other pests. Although they receive much attention in the (scare mongering) media, they are rare (I've found 2 crawling on my clothes with all of my daily walks this summer) and they are unlikely to carry dread diseases this far north.

So we'll focus on mosquitoes and black flies. What to do? For maximum protection, no question DEET is the big gun. Strong levels of DEET keep away everything. But it's so....chemical. While the FDA, EPA, etc., say it's safe at reasonable levels, just the name (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide) is enough to cause suspicion. I don't care for the smell, but there are times it is simply required. I also frequently use permethrin clothing spray on shoes and lower pants legs during the peak of tick season, and this seems quite effective as well. With either product however, I feel like I need to shower once I come in from outdoors.

So this year I've been trialing our white cedar hydrosol. First and foremost, it's nice to wear, as it smells great. Secondly, most days it works very well against both mosquitoes and black flies. I can't say it's 100%. For those of you who aren't familiar with black flies, they often engage in what amounts to a biting frenzy immediately before a rain. A few days ago I was in the woods just as a rain was starting, and got thoroughly chewed up. They did not seem to even notice the hydrosol. But other than that experience, it has proven quite effective on my daily walks, so I plan to keep using it. No shower required!