Have a tarp. Now what about the bugs?

100% deet and the GG Bug Canopy.

http://www.gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/gossamergear/Bug-Canopy.html?id=E9fkwybD:72.26.9.115

I use it under a 5×8 flat tarp but the skeeters don't seem to like me much anyway… especially if I have someone else around to act as a decoy.

I've never tried a head net but a lot of people seem to like them for both walking and sleeping.

Brian, where do you hike?

Where I hike (Sierra), the bugs are usually only a nuisance in the early evening. Often they're not even a nuisance then. Seems to depend on altitude and time of year in a somewhat random fashion. It helps if you don't camp near water.

A headnet will keep you from being bitten, but you'll still hear them buzzing around, which may make it hard to sleep. Same thing with DEET: reduces bites, but not noise. I'm going to bring earplugs on the JMT next month for this reason.

Larry, the canopy seems interesting. Does this model work well with a flat tarp, or is there something else that does? I like the idea of keeping the little pests a foot or so away from my head.

I usually don't find bugs to be a big deal while hiking, because as long as you're moving, they don't get you. Permethrin may help.

If the bugs are ferocious, only a full bug tent works, at least for us. This is a mini-tent, made out of no-see-um netting with a silnylon floor, that hangs beneath the tarp. See Ray Jardine's site or books for more information.

It's not the lightest thing in the world, but you get complete bug protection.

I wear a visor and a headnet.
If the bugs are out I cuss more.

Clothing and 100% deet.

Wearing nylon hiking pants, windshirt (or other nylon item) and sun runner cap, the only exposed areas are my hands and face. I apply 3 to 5 drops of deet to my palms, rub them together and then cover the back of my hands and face/ears/neck. It usually last through to the next morning. Take care not to get any deet on you finger tips.

I just clip it to the ridge line and run lines to the tarp tie outs. It works fine and is very easy to implement into an A-frame style pitch.

I would like some better options for when I want to use 1/2 pyramid pitch but that's my only real complaint. If you can sew it would be really easy to add a tie out for this.

More somewhere with fewer bugs. The backpacking will likely be better, too.

I just started using a tarp and bug bivy. 2 weekends ago we had really nasty Earwigs every where. I don't think deet would have helped, glad I had the bug bivy. I bought my bivy from BearPaw tents and it weighs around 7 3/4 oz I emailed John at BearPaw tents after I bought my bivy on ebay, great customer service and pretty fast shipping. I love mine.

Does anyone make a side entry bug shelter? (apart from the MLD Mid designs)

Brian,

Take a look at the Six Moon Designs, Meteor Bivy.

The floor is 1.3 oz silnylon. I use the bivy without a ground sheet. The lower section is WPB ripstop nylon. The upper section is no see-um mesh. Four titanium stakes through the stake loops keep it in position and an adjustable shockcord line attaches it to the ridgeline of my tarp to keep the mesh off my face.

Here is the link.

Click on Community, Make Your Own Gear, Meteor Bivy and then Download Pattern.

I used mine on the AT just 2 weeks ago.

I’m sorry the picture is so dark but trust me my Meteor Bivy is under my tarp. If you look close you can see the no see-um pulled back and my pillow, top quilt and sleeping pad on top of the silnylon bottom.

Party On,

Newton

Edited by Newton to repair broken link. :-)

“Does anyone make a side entry bug shelter? (apart from the MLD Mid designs)”

Not that lightweight, but the Integral Designs Bugabivy has a right-side zipper. Packed at about 16 oz, but 11 oz. without the aluminum hoop (and can be hung from a branch or tarp). There is a left-zip version, maybe hard to find.

Doug, I want one too. A two person A-frame style with two side zippers. (one on either side) Drop that bad boy under a 10 X 10- cabin and front porch MMMMM- I wanna try that

Places I hike, bugs are always bad. We joke about hummingbird-sized mosquitos. Biting flies can be horrid. Deet, long clothes, & a headnet only go so far. Most of us go out for the fun of it; shelter w/bug protection keeps my sanity intact.

You might be able to find a MSR Trekker Tent insert on ebay or something. Weighs ~24 oz for a 2-person a-frame w/side entry net tent w/floor. Would be a pretty simple affair to sew, too.

Here's one set up under a 10×12 sil tarp:

Is that a hammock tarp?

Not mine, Jim- Just an Equinox sil tarp, standard 10×12 rectangle.

Ok Brad,
So since your bug bivy is side entry, are you pitching your tarp 12' side to side, or front to back, It looks like the pic is front to back. is there enough room for each person to have plenty of room for in/egress + a front porch at the head of the bivy?