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What do poncho and/or tarp users do for bugs?
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Home › Forums › Gear Forums › Gear (General) › What do poncho and/or tarp users do for bugs?
- This topic has 36 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 11 months ago by Daniel Oxnard.
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Apr 6, 2021 at 9:38 pm #3708016
I have some skills but it would probably be good if I heard more and expanded my knowledge. Thank you.
Apr 6, 2021 at 10:43 pm #3708023Apr 6, 2021 at 11:07 pm #3708024I would be interested in knowing what skills there are… In my mind it’s primarily appropriate gear + the genetic lottery, e.g. how attractive you are to the bugs, and how much you react to bites. (a good friend won lottery, my wife lost it).
Things I can consider skills if I squint hard:
1) Make sure to pick sites which are not next to an ant nest. Did this once, very annoying, will never do it again.
2) pick sites which are likely to have a continuous breeze and aren’t near bodies of water where the bugs are hatching (dry camp on ridges or near passes).
3) bring someone who the bug would rather bother
4) Learn to search websites which have current trip reports so you can update your plans to go places that have low bug pressure, or go when the conditions minimize issues (like after hard freeze).
5) Use physical barrier to keep bugs at bay before you go to bed (Supplex clothing, headnet)… and decide how you are going to protect yourself when sleeping. My approach normally was a quilt protected lower body, and use an A16 bug bivy for what isn’t covered by the quilt. Sometimes I used an MLD SuperLight bivy. On a few trips I pitched a shaped tarp to the ground which kept most flying bugs out at the cost of ventilation / condensation. All were sub-optimal. I try a full size nest + tarp but didn’t like the weight to space ratio.
Ultimately bugs are they primary reason I stopped using tarps (or poncho/tarps) for shelter for most 3 season trips. Especially when it’s warm I want to be able to sit up, feel air circulating around me, and not be fighting the bugs off as well as stick parts of my body out from under my quilt to avoid overheating. For 3 seasons I switched to a Zpacks Hexamid which gave me most of what I liked about my tarp (good ventilation, connection to the outside, light weight) while giving me a bug free space.
–Mark
Apr 7, 2021 at 5:33 am #3708027I use a bug bivy or similar. I will usually pitch my tarp if weather is calling for it…
Apr 7, 2021 at 8:21 am #3708048All good suggestions above. I used a tarp for a 5 day trip last summer and never had a problem with bugs at all. Not a single one. BUT, I was in the Colorado rockies camping in relatively dry areas. If I was headed to an area that has lots of mosquitos, then I would not use a tarp.
Apr 7, 2021 at 8:26 am #3708049Thanks everyone.
I mainly use the bug protection when it is about 60F or higher with most of that being in the 70F+ range because it is too warm to use a quilt or other insulation.
@ J R, yeah, tried one of those out also but I am 6’4″ and even the long ones are pretty short. My feet and lower legs are touching the netting. I know it has Permethrin but I always felt that the bugs would try to bite through but I guess I can try it again.
@ Mark, I get what you are saying. Things like the Hexamid are beyond my price point but I do have an older Tarptent Moment. It would just be nice to marry something with the poncho tarp. When the girlfriend and I go out we take an REI Bug Hut 2 and just put the poncho tarps over it or bring along a 10oz, $10 cheapo tarp.
@dirtbag, is that the seatosummit or a different one?Apr 7, 2021 at 9:02 am #3708058I backpack a lot in the Appalachians. I almost always camp under a tarp without bug problems. Here are my main strategies:
- never camp at lower elevations much past April;
- in summer, stay on the high ridges only;
- camp where air will move instead of tucking into the trees;
- don’t camp near still water;
- carry a headnet as a safety.
I find most mosquitos disappear after the sun goes down too.
Apr 7, 2021 at 9:45 am #3708067Hey Brett… hear you about cost. I realize I have more spare cash than some… though the hexamid was 60% of the cost they are now.
One of the things I did around 10 years ago was thinking through all my possessions and activities and decide what I wanted to be invested in. I ended up dropping several activities and sold a bunch of gear. I took the proceeds to optimize the activities that I did engage in. Several years later I did another adjustment. For example, I sold my snow gear (my wife doesn’t enjoy snow camping and it’s not so much fun solo) and used the proceeds to optimize for 3 person summer trips with my wife and our youngest daughter and tweak my 3+ season solo gear based on what I had learned over the preceding few years during which time I had made no changes in my gear.
Apr 7, 2021 at 10:14 am #3708078That is Borah Gear Bug Bivy
Apr 7, 2021 at 10:21 am #3708079I normally hike in the Los Padres National Forest which is relatively bug-free compared to a lot of places. If I go to the Sierras or somewhere else, I bring a tent if mosquitoes are expected. Otherwise I usually have a head net at the very least.
Apr 7, 2021 at 10:49 am #3708087Here is Katabatic Gear Bristlecone Bivy used under Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape…
Apr 7, 2021 at 10:51 am #3708088Obviously no bugs in last photo.. but it was very cold and breezy.. so I used the Bivy and tarp..
Apr 7, 2021 at 12:45 pm #3708115@ J R, yeah, tried one of those out also but I am 6’4″ and even the long ones are pretty short. My feet and lower legs are touching the netting. I know it has Permethrin but I always felt that the bugs would try to bite through but I guess I can try it again.
Perhaps the S2S double-wide and sleep diagonally?
Apr 7, 2021 at 2:01 pm #3708125Has anyone tried this simple cheap one I found on Amazon? For the price I may try it.
Apr 7, 2021 at 2:02 pm #3708126About 13 bucks
Apr 7, 2021 at 2:22 pm #3708127This is mainly going to be in warm temps so no real coverin for my body except for the clothes I wear.
@dirtbag So do you treat your Borah Ultralight Bivy with Permethrin since most of it will collapse on you?
@Mark Verber. I get that. I don’t have much extra gear and I keep my winter items because it actually gets down to 0 or below with the wind chill so they are handy things to have.
@J R I think that would also be not enough and a good amount of that fabric would be draped across me.
@Jim Morrison, I do not se a link.Apr 7, 2021 at 3:12 pm #3708135Borahgear makes a long bug bivy that fits up to 6′ 4.” Weighs 6.0 oz. They also do custom work so you could get one even longer if you wanted. And Borahgear is about the most reasonably priced cottage company out there. Problem is they have a 10 week wait right now. I do see long Borahgear bug bivies on Gearswap from time to time though. You might put out a WTB.
Apr 7, 2021 at 4:09 pm #3708142Sorry…I guess the link didn’t work.
In any case. .. On Amazon just look up bug tents or bug shelters and you will find a few under 20 dollars with good reviews. I just wondered if they were really that good. Very basic things, under a pound.
Apr 7, 2021 at 4:40 pm #3708151No I do not treat it with permitherin.. i guess i could. I use it on all my clothing.
Apr 7, 2021 at 6:29 pm #3708162I am also in market for a good tarp bug screen, and I have decided on thee 4Monster Micro Mosquito Pyramid Net ($18.00), and their Micro Mosquito Head Net ($6.00). Inexpensive, and light. I bought their fanny pack last year and really liked its construction and price!
Their pictures are a bit off = image of woman in a single person net is holding the double person bag, and image of woman in a double person net is holding the single person bag!
Apr 7, 2021 at 9:30 pm #3708179As I see alot of these options, unless it is a solution that keeps the mesh at least 1″ away from you at all time or that you use a quilt or other non-porous fabric between you and them, you may as well just have a large sheet of noseeum sprayed with permithrin draped across you or use some sort of larger shelter, correct?
Apr 7, 2021 at 9:42 pm #3708181+1 on the Gatewood and Bristlecone bivy. The bivy seals out bugs and drafts, but obviously you can’t sit up. The mosquitoes go away when it gets cold, so I generally unzip the net and can sit up. Last year, I grabbed a SMD Serenity net-tent for trips when it’s warmer so I can sit up inside.
The designated sites in RMNP are generally next to water, so we eat far away if possible and walk around until it gets cold. Mosquitoes are not strong fliers.
Apr 8, 2021 at 1:38 am #3708186If you are moving dawn to dusk you can get away without much bug protection. I’ve used a pyramid tarp in the Canadian Rockies and Alaska. But I would not do it on a group trip, i.e. a situation where I might be lounging around camp. Not always.
I honestly think tents are better for most folks. My nylon pyramid is really too small at 16oz. If I went bigger it would be 20oz plus roughly 8oz or a bivy/ground cloth. I could almost carry a ultralight one man tent for that weight. The big advantage is the pyramid tarp is cheaper and more burly for trips with nasty weather. But for normal hiking a tent has some advantages. Of course if you go down to a smaller flat tarp you get more weight savings.
Back to bugs. I always, always have a small bottle of 100% DEET and a light headset. I can sleep with it if I have to but its more to save my sanity during the day. I rarely use it but once or twice a year I really really want it.
Apr 8, 2021 at 7:06 am #3708203Agree with what Dustin V said. I too, picked up the six moon design serenity bug net for warmer months when I may be planning on spending more time hanging around camp then hiking.. I have not used it yet, but have set it up several times in my yard..
Apr 8, 2021 at 8:33 am #3708217Me and bugs don’t mix! I migrated over to the Deschutes Plus tarp. It’s kind of a unique design, definitely for the good! Think floorless tarp’ish with a perimeter bug netting skirt.
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