‘Tis the season to hit the trails. At the same time, all outdoor enthusiasts hope to avoid the worst of all biting insects: The tick.

Here are a few selections from the Almanack archive that address these most-maligned insects:

From 2017: In a personal take on ticks, Tim Rowland writes: “I’d always viewed ticks as benign, but now I have to put them into that “one more thing to worry about” category, which is already quite an overcrowded field. After a recent hike in Essex County I picked two of the bastards off of me, and of course it happened in the middle of the night when everything seems more dramatic than it is. So where previously, I would never have given it a second thought, I instead lied awake for an hour wondering, ‘Am I doomed?'”

Read more: https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2017/05/tim-rowland-adirondack-ticks.htm

Also from 2017: An overview of Professor Lee Ann Sporn’s Adirondack tick research. https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2017/04/research-finds-increased-infected-ticks-adirondacks.html

You can read Sporn’s latest findings on the rise of another tick-borne illness in the Adirondack Explorer: https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/tick-disease-on-the-rise

From five years ago: Paul Hetzler gives an overview of ticks and some tips for avoiding them: https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2015/06/avoiding-ticks-in-the-adirondack-region.html

Everyone has their own practices for avoiding tick contact, but this article about permithrin posted last month to the Almanack was widely shared on the web: https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2020/05/more-tips-for-avoiding-ticks-and-tick-borne-disease.html

Stay safe out there!