Mosquito shirt protection

Brett:

I think you'll have to try it out to know for sure… but for me — associating mosquitoes with summer and warm weather — any clothing dense and thick enough to serve as a meaningul skeeter barrier will by definition be too heavy and too warm for me — esp. in long sleeves!

Considering all the artificial and chemical stuff in our daily lives… I'd rather deal with minimizing chemicals in my daily life than worry about the use of DEET or other chemicals during the two weeks or so that I get to hike each year. YMMV, of course.

I suspect Capilene 1 might be insufficiently thick or dense for mosquito protection.

I am thinking that also but it has been unseasonably cool here, in the upper 70s. I guess I could go sit in the closed off attic this weekend for 8 hours and see how that does me.

Where I live we are more prone to have mosquitos 3-4 months out of the year so using the chemicals for me really is not an option.

Well, it's either chemicals, clothing, or these:

They sell nets for head, hands, upper and lower body.

Bret,
I use Patagonia's Cap 1 longsleeve for summer season sun/bug protection and I've been very pleased. These shirts offer good protection, dry fast and are very durable for such a light weight fabric.

I use either a wind shirt, or a propore jacket (Dropstopper, etc.). The wind shirt breathes a bit better, but the propore is pretty good (and saves me the weight of the wind shirt). For my head, I use the BPL ultralight headnet (http://tinyurl.com/38ejnj). The nice thing about it over other headnets is the visibility. I believe MLD makes a similar product.

For pants, I do the same thing (wind pants or rain pants). I have a pair of bug gloves and bug socks, but I forget the brand name.

I also own a set of bug clothes made by "the original bug shirt" people. These are outstanding for bug protection, but relatively heavy (I use it for car camping). The visibility also isn't as good as the BPL ultralight headnet.

How many of you would make a headnet (such as the BPL Simblissity) part of your regular kit? I'll be backpacking in Colorado mountains in 3 weeks and am trying to fine-tune my gear list.

On trips that I expect mosquitoes will be bad a take a OR headnet. Not the lightest solution… but it works well. This only covers my head and neck. The rest of my body is protected by supplex nylon clothing which the mosquitoes I experience don't seem to bite through. My socks are treated with permethrin.

–mark

The BPL headnet is a standard part of my 3 season kit. It's even part of my sub 4 lb experimental list where I agonize over every gram. I love the increased visibility and ventilation as compared to most other headnets.

I use a homemade noseeum netting bag that fits over my hear and neck and that I also use along with and Ursack odorproof bag and 50' or line as a bear bag type system.

In three weeks I will be taking a headnet. Most of the year I do not take one.

Though I haven't used my headnet in years, I will NEVER, EVER again hike without it, at least when temperatures are above freezing. Not only can mosquitos and other flying insects drive you crazy, but they can cause health problems when they get stuck in your ears, and they can cause you to trip and fall when they attack your eyes.

My net is made as follows: Cut two pieces of netting 27.5" long by 21" wide, sew together on three sides with 5/8" seam, square off top using 5/8" seam to form open-ended sack 22" long by 10" square. Sew small stuff sack with shock-cord closure. 30 grams, including small stuff sack. This very simple net works well for me with a wide-brim hat. Normally, I let the net hang loosely in front rather than tucking it into my shirt. This allows some ventilation while still keeping most of the bugs away. You can cut the weight slightly by using that lightweight no-see-um netting from thru-hiker.com and/or by not having a stuff sack.

I don't carry one. I used to carry one but don't really need it anymore. Now, I just use an OR sun runner cap and a very small amount of 100% deet. The cape on my hat keeps the skeeters off my head and neck while the deet keeps them off my face. For the deet I put one or two drops (max) on my hands, rub them together and then pat my face. Does the trick. A BPL mini dropper bottle will easily hold a week or more worth of deet when used in this manner. An occasional mosquito bite isn't a big deal to me if one does manage to slip through.

>> How many of you would make a headnet (such as the BPL Simblissity) part of your regular kit? I'll be backpacking in Colorado mountains in 3 weeks and am trying to fine-tune my gear list.

I'll be there in three weeks with precisely the BPL headnet:)

I'll give $100 dollars to anyone who completes a 2 week July/August backpack in the Scottish Highlands without one!