Australia & New Zealand Outdoor Adventure Forum

I remember one hike in the mountain of Sierra Madre. I was with the boy scouts (they are seniors with age range of 13 to 17 while I was 18 at the time. There was this town where the trail was muddy but still okay. What's holding us were the insects that bite. Ants and mosquitoes plus other insects that I couldn't define. We were literally attacked so even if the trail was muddy, we were running. It was one terrible experience.

Haha, great post. I guess that's the price to pay for the beauty of the outdoors, isn't it? One of my favourite places in the world is Milford Sound, New Zealand. The famous Milford track is also very "famous" for its pesky sand flies. They are so bad they drove the ancient Maori people away from the Fiordlands.

They seem to not bother my partner too much, he doesn't get too bad of a reaction from those bites. Me, on the other hand, don't feel it when they bite, but I stay itchy from it for weeks! I scratch till I bleed and scar, it's so bad. So ya, insect repellent for Milford Sound, please!

I agree with you on this that those pesky insects make a hike become a terrible experience too quickly. I live in a place where mosquitoes love to roam around so you can imagine how many scars I have for scratching too much, their bites causes me to get huge itchy red bumps. What worries me the most is that they may carry deseases so I try my best to keep them out of my house. When I go out on a hike or in places where many plants are I usually take with me mint leaves.

kamai wrote:I agree with you on this that those pesky insects make a hike become a terrible experience too quickly. I live in a place where mosquitoes love to roam around so you can imagine how many scars I have for scratching too much, their bites causes me to get huge itchy red bumps. What worries me the most is that they may carry deseases so I try my best to keep them out of my house. When I go out on a hike or in places where many plants are I usually take with me mint leaves.

That's right and mint leaves don't only work to repel mosquitos but they also work to repel other insects as well. Most insects despise the aroma of mint so it's always nice to have some on you if you're outside. I would also suggest that people stay away from bodies of water as mosquitos thrive there. Sometimes, people don't know that they're around lakes, ponds, large puddles or swamps and set up camp near.

Well it really does seem like they are everywhere whenever you do not want them to be. I have had some bad ones, but it seems that this year it is ticks that are causing all the stir. Just gotta be careful out there.

I hate insects like hell. Their mere presence around me upsets me to a great extent. Moreover even a normal mosquito bite causes me so much itching which gets really uncontrollable at times. This is something that is always so irritating.