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Fight with Devil's Club. This time I won. July 2020

At first Karen and I started on Chiwaukum Creek trail. But a massive wildfire incinerated the trees. No shade = too hot in July. After about a mile we turned around. Drove higher to Stevens Pass where it's cooler.

I love hiking to Lanham Lake. It's fun on snowshoes. The trail is short and steep. We gained 1,240 feet in elevation in just over a mile. Spectacular wildflowers in the shady woods.

Hordes of mosquitoes attacked us at the lake. I wore long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and gloves. Added a bug net from hat to shoulders. My clothes, hat and pack were sprayed with Permethrin insect spray. Thought I was mosquito-proof.

But some shirtsleeves have a small gap between the cuff and sleeve. A mosquito sneaked through the gap and stung my inner wrist.

In an area, Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridum) grows across the trail, raking people and animals with half-inch, barbed and toxic thorns. Got a thorn in my thumb. That did it. To protect my hand, I wrapped it in a folded fleece jacket. Sawed off offending branches with my small folding knife. Felt victorious.

Descending, Karen and I karate-chopped Devil's Club with our hiking poles. I took the left side (left-handed) and Karen took the right. "You know we're just pruning them and they will grow back more thickly," I told Karen. "I know," she replied. But it sure felt good.

At home, I removed the thorn with a sterilized needle and tweezers. Sharpened the knife. The next day I pulled thorns from my fleece jacket with needle-nose pliers.

LiterateHiker 9 Mar 28
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4 comments

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2

Nice pics of the hike.

2

Great pics!! Too bad the bloodsucking leeches (Mosquitoes) had to be around. I hate them bastards!! Equally bad are Horseflies which are common around salt water.

3

Beautiful shots

bobwjr Level 10 Mar 28, 2022
3

I like the Sting-eze product for mosquito bites. Melrose oil for spider bites. I don't know what works for the no-see-um tiny biting flies. I only got those once and it was terrible.

Wow. Interesting. Yeah, sulfur oxidizes into SO2. Actually toxic to breath too.

@racocn8, @Garban, @CuddyCruiser

Proven insect repellent was rated #1 in 2021. It's odorless. Twelve hours of effective protection from ticks, mosquitoes, midges (no-see-ums), biting flies, black flies, stable flies, gnats, chiggers, and sand flies.

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