Hiking Clothes For Black Fly, Mosquito, and Tick Protection
How to protect yourself from insect bites or illness when hiking
Black flies, mosquitoes, and ticks can make you think twice about hiking and backpacking in the spring. While lathering up with DEET or Picaridin insect repellent is one option, I prefer wearing hiking clothes for insect protection because they’re far more effective and comfortable.
Here’s a look at the hiking clothes I wear during bug season.
- Hat: Outdoor Research Insect Shield Brim Hat
- Head Net: Sea-to-Summit Headnet with Insect Shield
- Gloves: Outdoor Research ActiveIce Sun Gloves
- Socks: Darn Tough Hiker Boot Socks treated with Insect Shield
- Shirt: Columbia Long Sleeve Fishing Shirt treated with Insect Shield
- Pants: RailRiders Bone Flats Pants treated with Insect Shield
Hat and Head Net
When you’re hiking, insects are attracted to the highest part of your body, your head. While you can sometimes outpace them if you’re walking fast, they’ll swarm around the crown of your head and face whenever you stop to rest. While you can cover your ears, face, and neck with bug dope, you’ll sweat it off quickly.
When there’s intense bug pressure in May and June, I wear a Sea-to-Summit Head-Net that’s been factory-treated with Insect Shield. Black in color, it is easier to see through than a green or beige headnet and doesn’t make me nauseous.
The head net is best used with a wide-brim hat like the OR Insect Shield Brim Hat or a Tilley Airflow, because the brim keeps the netting off your face, the back of your head, and neck. While a billed baseball-style hat will keep the netting off your face, it won’t keep the netting off the rest of your head. Bugs can bite through the holes in the mesh if it lies on top of your skin.
Fingerless Gloves
When it’s warm out, I like to wear fingerless Active Ice Sun Gloves from Outdoor Research because they prevent bug bites on my hands. They also protect my hands from the sun.
Shirts and Pants
I wear a thin, well-ventilated long-sleeve shirt and long pants during bug season. The Columbia Fishing Shirt with Insect Shield has mesh panels along the arms and legs that help release extra warmth vent perspiration. It also provides excellent sun protection. I also wear RailRider Bone Flat Pants, which have long vents down the sides. They’re not available with Insect Shield, so I send them out myself to be treated. The Bone Flats are similar to the RailRiders Eco Mesh Pants I’ve worn in the past, but are much thinner and lighter weight.
I also send my Darn Tough socks to Insect Shield for treatment. My primary concern is ticks since I spend a fair amount of time off-trail, scouting the banks of rivers and streams for trout habitat.
At a Minimum
There’s nothing that says you have to treat your hiking clothes with Permethrin or send them away for the Insect Shield treatment. What matters the most is having a barrier between you and the bugs, something that wearing the right clothes will accomplish. However, when it comes to fabrics, you’ll want to stick with clothing that has a dense weave, like nylon or polyester shirts and pants, and not cotton or merino wool garments that insects can bite through.
I like having the added repellent provided by Insect Shield or Permethrin. It only takes one bug bite to ruin your day.
Wrap Up
Bugs suck. But a nice spring day without hiking? That’s even worse.
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I also carry cheap lightweight polarized sunglasses with a very minimal tint. I find that they are great at keeping all sorts of bugs out of my eyes during minor to moderate bug pressure. The tint is light enough that I can wear them in the woods all the way to sunset and still be able to see well enough to hike safely. They are good sunglasses in general too. I also wear a insect shield buff on my head that I can pull over my ears if the bugs repeatedly try to fly in them. My headnet works well but I don’t enjoy the way it feels and so I generally use it only when the bug pressure is too much.
What would us newbies do without your blog I do not want to know. Thank you Philip, this is very helpful !
Thanks for doing all this research. I haven’t been able to find “good” treated socks. Since you are trying to make a living doing good research on this kind of stuff, I’m now more willing to spend the money to have Insect Shield do the job.
As always great information and very helpful. Another company that makes quality outdoor clothing that has a top notch collection of bug and sun protection clothing is Craghoppers. I’ve been wearing them for years and ever since they have setup a US base of operation it’s much easier to purchase. Prices are competitive and most include free shipping.
Apart from its contact insecticidal activity, permethrin has an appreciable vapor pressure which creates an insect repellant atmosphere around a wearer that I find sufficiently effective to obviate the need for head nets for most highland hiking away from water.
I don’t believe this. Not in my experience. I think you’re confusing permethrin with Deet or picaridin which are both lotions and have smells because they’re not dry. Insects are repelled by the smell. Permethrin dries on clothes and is odorless.
Great info. In heavy black fly conditions, is it realistic they could occasionally get inside any openings in such a setup through sleeve cuffs, shirt buttons, or under the bottom edge of a head net? I don’t have much experience with black flies, but I’ve read that they can crawl around quite a bit.
Yes. Duct tape the ends of your sleeves and pant legs closed if it’s a concern.