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Maintaining & Protecting Vermont's Long Trail Since 1910

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Get Outside but be Tick Smart

June 16, 2016 by Alicia DiCocco 1 Comment

Be Tick SmartDr. Harry Chen, M.D., who is the Vermont Commissioner of Health, wrote this article on being tick smart for the Summer Long Trail News. Dr. Chen is a longtime GMC member and lives with his wife Anne in Burlington. They have three children, all of whom are Long Trail end-to-enders!

Deer ticks, which can transmit Lyme disease, are becoming more common across Vermont. Ticks hide out in high grass, bushy vegetation and leaf litter throughout the warm season waiting for a warm body that can provide a blood meal to pass by. So take the precautions below when hiking, doing yard work or just playing around.

Repel. Before heading out, apply insect repellent with up to thirty percent DEET. Treat clothes and gear with permethrin. Wear light-colored clothing (the better to spot ticks), long sleeves and long pants. Tuck pants into socks or wear gaiters (factory treated gaiters are especially effective) to keep ticks away from skin.

Inspect. Check yourself often to catch ticks before they bite. Do a daily head-to-toe tick check on yourself, children and pets.

Remove. Lyme disease transmission can be prevented if a tick is removed within about thirty-six hours, but ticks are so small they can go unnoticed if you aren’t looking for them carefully. (Nymphs are no bigger than a poppy seed.) Showering within two hours of coming indoors has also been proven effective. Wash and then tumble dry clothing on high heat for about an hour (if drying clothes treated with permethrin follow instructions on label).  Also check gear for crawling ticks—these opportunists may hitch a ride and attach to skin later.

Detect and treat early. The first sign of Lyme disease is often an expanding red rash at the site of the tick bite. The rash usually appears seven to fourteen days after the bite, but sometimes takes up to thirty days to appear. Not everyone gets the rash, so be on the lookout for flu-like symptoms of early Lyme disease: fatigue, headache, fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and joint pain. Lyme disease can be successfully treated with antibiotics, especially if given early.

Track ticks. The Vermont Department of Health has created an online mapping tool, Tick Tracker. The tool enables users to report tick bites, identify species, and see where other tick bites have occurred in the state. The more reports posted by users, the better the information the tracker can provide. You can also visit the Health Department’s website that offers extensive information about ticks and tickborne disease prevention and treatment.

Filed Under: From the Field, Hiking, News, Trail

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  1. Thru-Hiking the Long Trail with the Krebs Family: Q&A - Green Mountain Club says:
    January 27, 2022 at 3:00 pm

    […] by late July and August, bugs become more background nuisances. Hikers should expect mosquitos and ticks on any hike, and take proper […]

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Leave No Trace, Then and Now: a Timeline of Trail Etiquette Language

March 1, 2023

This article previously appeared in the Winter 2022 Long Trail News, under the headline “Leave No Trace: Then and Now.” It was written by Sasha Weilbaker. To celebrate 100 years of the Long Trail News, we read back issues to learn what they said about trail stewardship and etiquette. The seven … Read more

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Mission

The Green Mountain Club is the founder and maintainer of the Long Trail - the oldest long distance hiking trail in America. Established in 1910 to build this trail stretching the length of Vermont, the club now also maintains the Appalachian Trail in Vermont and trails in the Northeast Kingdom in its mission to "make the Vermont mountains play a larger part in the life of the people." Read more...

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