A month or two ago I posted about going up to Copper Falls state park in Wisconsin to camp. We didn't make it that far north. We stopped at Nicolet national forest, the Boulder Lake campground. It was the first time that my wife and I had camped in a national forest campground. It was very nice. The campground had just been renovated, brand new showers, nice fire pit grills, and very nice pit toilets. There was lots of wildlife. We had a campsite right on Boulder lake. The picture below, nothing special, but shows the lake at sunset from our campsite.
I didn't really take lots of pictures. I went out one afternoon to hike to a little lake I saw from the road. The lake was maybe 1/2 mile from the road and while my wife read a book in the truck, I hiked down there. I have never in my life seen anything like this. After just a litte bit, maybe several hundred yards of walking through the broken trees/weeds on the way to the lake, I looked down at my pants and really I'm not exaggerating, I'm sure there were between 50 and 100 ticks just on the front of my pant legs. I really should have taken a picture. I'm sorry I didn't, but it was amazing. I brushed them off as best as I could and continued on, stopping every little while for tick removal. When I got back to the truck, my wife and I picked ticks off my clothes for about an hour, before she'd let me in the truck. I mean I expect ticks when I go out. Here in Indiana, I'll go out tromping in the wetlands, etc. and pick off maybe 5 or 10 after coming back, but nothing like this. It really kind of dampened my enthusiasm for hiking much. It's one thing to deal with them at home, but camping in a tent and no laundry facilities, etc. around and limited clothing, etc. along made it very difficult. It was incredible.
I mean can you imagine what the deer and other wildlife must be like? If I had that many ticks after just an hour hike, how many must they have living in that environment? My goodness, anyway that's my report from tickland forest Wisconsin. . .
Dave, wow, I spend a lot of time in the Nicolet, my parents live there and I visit often. While ticks are not uncomon I've never seen anything like you described. If I go for a walk in the woods and come back with 5 I would think that was a lot. I'm not a tick expert but I wonder if you walked through some kind of nest or something. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience but I hope everyone understands that this is the exception not the rule. Northern Wisconsin is a GREAT place, with lots of great photo ops.
Please don't misunderstand me, it is a very very beautiful area and I wouldn't hesitate to go back. I generally don't like to use Deet products, but at least in this particular spot I wouldn't go back without some pretty strong stuff on. It seemed to be not just one nest or anything, but this whole little area. I would brush them off my pants and a few minutes later my pants would just be covered again. I'm sure it sounds unbelievable. I've sure never experienced anything like it. I just wasn't very well prepared for it.
Posted by Robert Helms on June 10, 2006 at 11:39 AM
David, thanks for the horror story! I was just out this morning and sprayed myself with the repellent as I always do. However, the weather was a little more cool than I expected so I tossed on a light fleece jacket, that I didn't spray repellent on, and what thought entered my mind? Well, you story did. When I got back to the vehicle that was the first thing I looked for on my jacket.
I hate ticks. I'm sure they got their place in the chain, but I do not see their purpose. Your story sounds like a nightmare to me. I couldn't even imagine having that many ticks on myself. On a very rare occasion I may get one, so you must've gotten into a nest or something. I've never heard of such a concentration that large.
Ticks or not it does sound like you enjoyed yourself and that must be one excellent wife to help get them off of ya. Or maybe she just didn't want to be in the vehicle with you and the ticks
Posted by David Stokely on June 10, 2006 at 10:41 PM
You make me laugh Robert. I do have an excellent wife, but I think her helping me rid my clothes of these little vermin was surely self-serving. She knew, from past experience, that if I came to the tent or got in the truck with all those little critters, she was going to be finding them on the dogs and on her also. This has really tickled my interest and I've done a fair amount of reading the past couple of days on ticks. The ticks I had on me were dog ticks, not known to carry lyme disease. The do carry a bunch of other pretty nasty tick fevers, etc., but not apparently lyme.
I went out today to my regular haunts around here and I'm proud to say, I didn't even find one tick, so I haven't acquired some terrible kind of tick magnetism thank God!!!
Getting that many ticks in Wisconsin is highly unusual, but does happen. I've done my share of tromping through the woods and have gotten as many as 10.
It's likely...and my guess...that a tick-infested animal died in the area and all the blood-engorged ticks on that animal layed their eggs in the area...and you happened to walk through? Just a guess.
The lyme carrier is the deer tick and is so tiny you probably won't notice it. There was a vaccine for lyme's disease, but the drug company stopped producing it (at least for animals/dogs, etc.) I've been told it was not a cost-effective vaccine. Not sure if it's still produced for humans.
How were the mosquitos?
Glad you liked Wisconsin...but showers in a National Forest? How outrageous!!! I'm going to make some calls!
Wisconsin is littered with wonderful and secluded campgrounds. Hope you visit again!
You know Jon, that sounds like a very logical explanation for what I experienced. I'll bet something like that is just what happened.
We were so happy the loons did sing, but only in the day. One of my most memorable nights camping was in the U.P. of Michigan in a little state forest campground (no showers) called Perch Lake, north and west of Newberry about 25 miles. This might have even been the first time I'd ever heard loons, I'm not sure, but somewhere in the wee hours of the morning (still pitch black) the loon or loons started singing. It was the most beautiful, mornful, lonely sounding call. If I remember it went on for a long time. My wife and I just loved it, laying in the tent listening to that was such a beautiful thing.
Discussion
6 repliesI didn't really take lots of pictures. I went out one afternoon to hike to a little lake I saw from the road. The lake was maybe 1/2 mile from the road and while my wife read a book in the truck, I hiked down there. I have never in my life seen anything like this. After just a litte bit, maybe several hundred yards of walking through the broken trees/weeds on the way to the lake, I looked down at my pants and really I'm not exaggerating, I'm sure there were between 50 and 100 ticks just on the front of my pant legs. I really should have taken a picture. I'm sorry I didn't, but it was amazing. I brushed them off as best as I could and continued on, stopping every little while for tick removal. When I got back to the truck, my wife and I picked ticks off my clothes for about an hour, before she'd let me in the truck. I mean I expect ticks when I go out. Here in Indiana, I'll go out tromping in the wetlands, etc. and pick off maybe 5 or 10 after coming back, but nothing like this. It really kind of dampened my enthusiasm for hiking much. It's one thing to deal with them at home, but camping in a tent and no laundry facilities, etc. around and limited clothing, etc. along made it very difficult. It was incredible.
I mean can you imagine what the deer and other wildlife must be like? If I had that many ticks after just an hour hike, how many must they have living in that environment? My goodness, anyway that's my report from tickland forest Wisconsin. . .
Greg Yahr
I hate ticks. I'm sure they got their place in the chain, but I do not see their purpose. Your story sounds like a nightmare to me. I couldn't even imagine having that many ticks on myself. On a very rare occasion I may get one, so you must've gotten into a nest or something. I've never heard of such a concentration that large.
Ticks or not it does sound like you enjoyed yourself and that must be one excellent wife to help get them off of ya. Or maybe she just didn't want to be in the vehicle with you and the ticks
I went out today to my regular haunts around here and I'm proud to say, I didn't even find one tick, so I haven't acquired some terrible kind of tick magnetism thank God!!!
It's likely...and my guess...that a tick-infested animal died in the area and all the blood-engorged ticks on that animal layed their eggs in the area...and you happened to walk through? Just a guess.
The lyme carrier is the deer tick and is so tiny you probably won't notice it. There was a vaccine for lyme's disease, but the drug company stopped producing it (at least for animals/dogs, etc.) I've been told it was not a cost-effective vaccine. Not sure if it's still produced for humans.
How were the mosquitos?
Glad you liked Wisconsin...but showers in a National Forest? How outrageous!!! I'm going to make some calls!
Wisconsin is littered with wonderful and secluded campgrounds. Hope you visit again!
Any loons on the lake? They sing for you?
We were so happy the loons did sing, but only in the day. One of my most memorable nights camping was in the U.P. of Michigan in a little state forest campground (no showers) called Perch Lake, north and west of Newberry about 25 miles. This might have even been the first time I'd ever heard loons, I'm not sure, but somewhere in the wee hours of the morning (still pitch black) the loon or loons started singing. It was the most beautiful, mornful, lonely sounding call. If I remember it went on for a long time. My wife and I just loved it, laying in the tent listening to that was such a beautiful thing.
Thanks for bringing back that memory.