How many calories do you burn on some of those very long mileage days? What brand of face net for those bugs and horseflies that which you have? We don't get horse flies here in NC, but when I used to live and hike in central ontario they were bad, and up north in Yellowknife there were clouds of them - insane little monsters. I'm also curious as to if the dyneema tents are served well by the use of shockcord? A lot of hammockers tend to use shockcord on the tarp tieouts to keep tension but not stress the fabric. So many little details to think of ... it's great to have a channel such as your's to help sort through iit all.
if the terrain is flat, i’d say around 4,000 calories on a 30 mile day. assuming an average pace of 2.5 mph over 12 to 13 hours. climbs and faster pace definitely increases that. probably 5,000 to 6,000 calories once my appetite comes back. again assuming an average over the day of about 2.5 mph which includes stops and breaks. i have the ben’s invisinet head net. shock cord on a dcf tent. never tried it. i just use the tensioning cord that tarptent sent with the tent. the corners are reinforced and i have only four tension points that i use. no side points or tension attachments on the panels. one of the things i like about the dcf tent is being able to really tension it down to help prevent flapping in wind. i would imagine shock cord would allow a little more of that. but i can also see how it might not stress out the laminate part of the fabric. interesting concept. i’ve just never tried it and like how my tent sets up currently. can’t see changing anything at this point. will keep it in mind, however if things change.
I started bringing deet for the ticks and flies this year. I’m over insects making walking miserable. That, and this annoying California elevation gain.
i use repel oil of lemon eucalyptus. it works good for mosquitos and other biting flies. it did not work on these horse flies. i was literally looking at deet insect repellent today. 😂 not sure if even that would deter them. i’m in east texas. i gain maybe 200 ft . . . if i climb a tree. i miss the mountains. i can see how they could get old if you’re in the mood for an easy hike.
I used some last weekend and it was pretty successful. Everything flew around, but they wouldn’t land on me. I think it’s worth it for your sanity alone haha.
