"Aren't you worried about the bugs?" That question was asked by about 90% of the people who talked about the expedition while it was still in the planning stages. If I was worried about the bugs I probably wouldn't be in the woods - ever.

As a child mosquitoes took their blood samples from me and left the classic welt and itch as reminders of their presence. By the time I'd reached high school age I'd developed an immunity to mosquito bites. Today when a mosquito bites they leave no itch or welt and sometimes I don't even feel them biting. Black flies are another matter. I've been in black fly infested areas where my hiking partners have come away with dozens of bites and I had not a one. This is not always true, as I have to admit I have been bedeviled by these pesky fellows who leave streams of blood running down your body.

Jerry on the other hand is constantly on an active search of non-chemical means to dissuade biting insects. He carried two head nets on this hike. One was normal mosquito netting the other was no-see-um proof.

We noticed that each day seemed to feature one bug over others. Mosquitoes were the most common being found along the entire length of the trail. We had only two nights of severe black fly attack; one at Sampson's Bog Outlet, the other at Moose Pond. We had one day where we couldn't see what was biting us so we assumed it must be the day of the so called "No-see-ums."

Each night in lean-tos or on the ground Jerry erected at least the inner part of his North Face Canyon Lands tent as protection against bugs. This is a one-person tent that attains its low weight by making the inner tent entirely bug mesh - except for the floor. Over the bug mesh is a full rain fly. Without the fly the tent is nothing but a bug screen with a floor.

Browsing through my trail notes, I've found a passage - a crude passage - that captures the depth of Jerry's obsession with avoiding bugs. It was July 10^th and we were spending the night just off the trail near Sampson's Bog Outlet. We had been viscously attacked by black flies while making dinner and doing the other evening chores. We retreated to our tents as soon as possible to get away from the bugs.