Last year, I used 4 squirt bottles of Ben’s 100% DEET to prevent mosquito bites. I’d slather Ben’s on my legs, arms, and head every time I went backpacking and hiking near my home in Boston or when I visited my favorite backpacking haunts in the Catskills, the Gunks, or the White Mountains in New [...]

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I just got back from an epic 40 mile hike section of the Long Trail in Vermont, hiking northbound from Rt. 9 to Rt. 11/30. The weather was great. We had a little rain the first night before our first day of hiking, and after that, blue sky with wispy clouds. The nights were in [...]

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I’m working on my gear list for my Long Trail hike this summer, trying to get my base gear weight down under 13 pounds, and tuning my gear list for Long Trail conditions that will include black flies, mud, lots of rain and over 40 mountain ascents.
Technically, I have all the gear one could ever [...]

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Black flies are prevalent on the Long Trail in Vermont from spring through mid-summer. I’m going to be backpacking then and I’ve been devising some strategies to reduce the annoyance and health risk they pose.
My first line of defense is gong to be clothing. Although I hate hiking in long pants, I’m going to wear [...]

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