Having a hard time deciding what to wear thru-hiking for the lower half

[4eyedbuzzard]

They, ticks, are all over the northern sections of the Connecticut River valley, the Ammonoosuc River valley, and northern areas at lower elevations. They weren't 20 years ago.

[fastfoxengineering]

I would have agreed with you 30 years ago but the wood ticks started moving north. They tended to follow the major river corridors. First it was the Saco river and they were quite noticeable when paddling in the Conway area. Then I started seeing them along the Androscoggin river in Shelburne and the trails in that area including the non AT portion of the Mahoosuc Trail and the Centennial trail. They also worked up the Connecticut river. As the years went by they worked up the valleys and utility right of ways. I now have some land in Randolph along Durand road and got covered with wood ticks last year. In the last few years. I have been doing a lot of hikes with redliners and many of those hikes are on the fringes of the WMNF down low and that is where I see them usually in the late spring/early summer. Once I head up higher (over 2K ) I dont see them.

To date I have not found a deer tick on me. The white tail deer population in the whites is historically low and unlike the surrounding areas the north of the whites are not great habitat for them while central and southern NH have a very high deer population in the ever expanding developed areas. The peak winter conditions north of the whites tends to knock down the population. There are numerous studies that deer tick populations are pretty much directly correlated with high deer populations and high deer populations are usually result of habitat related to development. Luckily the WMNF are managed to grow trees not farm fields and suburban backyards and as woods mature, the preferred deer habitat reduces. Hopefully it will stay that way so Lyme disease stays south. Wood ticks are still very annoying and their bites can get infected but at this point the number of nasty diseases tied to them is lower.

A general rule is if I am in hardwoods adjacent to open field or river valleys I need to be more careful than in softwoods and if I know there is area gets deer hunting pressure I also need to watch out.

The winter ticks that are ravaging the moose population may be dense up north but they don't go after people.

Good intel.

I figured most of the ticks were going to be where the redliners explore.

On the main trails and at elevation. Ive never seen one.

Surprisingly when I thru'd the Cohos I never encountered one either. And that was prime tick habitat.

I also am picky about where I do business in the woods. I dont just walk through the jungle like some do...

Those ferns freak me out. I avoid getting carwashed etc.

I do permerthin treat my stuff now.

The state parks around my home in Northwood is a other story. Went camping at bear brook state park this past weekend and some friends had to brush off like 3 ticks each.

I think alot has to do with just staying on trail and avoiding low vegetation and stuff as best you can. But bushingwacking, redlining, going off the beaten path.. theres only so much you can do.

When I hiked the AT.. new york and new jersey had me cringing. I was scared to look down at my legs.


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[peakbagger]

My guess is they just haven't moved far enough north on the Connecticut river to move up the drainages to the Cohos trail. They are nearby as I did a bushwhack with a group up Cape Horn in Northumberland in late spring last year and we all found wood ticks crawling on us. The Pilot Range acts as buffer for the Cohos trail in that area, but the Upper Ammonoosuc from Groveton provides a straight shot into Nash Stream.