Hiking in the Elkommando

[adempsey10]

These were taken on Crown land in Carp, Ontario, Canada. This was the first time I'd worn my Elkommando into the bush and it will probably be the last. I came back to discover two ticks had made their home on my legs up under the kilt. This was unfortunate since the comfort of hiking in this kilt is far superior to shorts or pants. I will probably limit use of the Elkommando to designated hiking trails and other outdoor activities that dont involve hiking through dense bush. Most of these pictures are taken in a large open rocky area near a small lake. We had to hike through a marsh and a dense forest to get to this point. It was a beautiful spring day and one of our last hikes in the Ottawa region before moving to London.

You'll notice in the 4th picture what appears to be a circular formation of rocks with a pile of rocks in the centre. We couldn't figure out what these formations were. We saw 4 or 5 of them and there were animal bones and skulls sitting on the pile of rocks in the middle. It was a bit creepy since we were in an area that has no beaten paths nor is used by many people. The only real access is a 2 hour hike in from one of the 3 or 4 privately owned properties which surround it. The friends who we were hiking with happened to own and live on one of these properties. So, let fly the conspiracy theories!! Aliens? Voodoo? Bigfoot? Take your best guess!


Another side note, in picture 5, you can see a beaver pile in the middle of the lake, which is only about 3-4 ft deep the whole way. We snowshoed through here in the winter and there were a lot wolf tracks around the beaver pile and a ton of blood. During this spring hike, we found several intact beaver skulls along the shore of the lake, probably leftover from the winter kills.

[Elizabeth]

Lovely pictures, beautiful area! Not sure the kilt was the problem with the ticks. I've had the buggers come under shorts and long pants. I hate insect repellant but do use it in especially ticky or mosquito thick areas.

[TJ Kelley]

Very cool hike, thx for sharing the fotos.
Agree w/ Elizabeth, ticks will find a way to get in regardless.
Try hanging a noPest strip from yer boys... heheheee.
How did your dogs weather them?

And the rock formation... thats a Yeti burial mound.

[adempsey10]

Very cool hike, thx for sharing the fotos.
Agree w/ Elizabeth, ticks will find a way to get in regardless.
Try hanging a noPest strip from yer boys... heheheee.
How did your dogs weather them?

And the rock formation... thats a Yeti burial mound.

Yea, I've had ticks get me when in shorts as well, but there's no question that a kilt gives far less protection than a pair of shorts.


The dogs were fine, we have flea & tick medication that we give them every month during the summer. Ticks don't even bother with them.

[Nile]

Thank you for sharing the photos.

I'm not convinced that kilt is a problem regarding ticks. I was just hiking in the Allegheny National Forest in central Pennsylvania this past weekend, off the trail wearing a kilt; no ticks. The only time I have ever picked up a tick, I was working in the woods (cutting wood) wearing pants.

Hiking in the kilt was great. This was the first time I had done it and I got into some pretty thick stuff. Of course, the hiking boots and kilt hose helped.

Don't give up on it yet; perhaps some repellant would help as Elizabeth has suggested.

Nile

[adempsey10]

Thank you for sharing the photos.

I'm not convinced that kilt is a problem regarding ticks. I was just hiking in the Allegheny National Forest in central Pennsylvania this past weekend, off the trail wearing a kilt; no ticks. The only time I have ever picked up a tick, I was working in the woods (cutting wood) wearing pants.

Hiking in the kilt was great. This was the first time I had done it and I got into some pretty thick stuff. Of course, the hiking boots and kilt hose helped.

Don't give up on it yet; perhaps some repellant would help as Elizabeth has suggested.

Nile

It depends on the area, we were hiking in an area that is prone to ticks, we get them even if we're ten to fifteen feet from the house where we did the hike. I've had ticks before while wearing shorts when we've been out at their place, but usually down around my ankles or calves, once on my stomach. The first time I wore the kilt out there, I got two ticks only a few inches from my nether regions. I might still have got ticks in shorts, but I'm convinced they wouldn't have got up that far.

[brewerpaul]

Ticks are just part of the season. Regardless of shorts of kilt I get just as many.. Doing alot of trail running means lots of brush in the summer. Jennifer and I can both run together on the same trail and she wont have any and Ill have a few. Mostly they can grab onto my hairy legs, which is the real issue not the shorts of kilt, and make their way up. Most of them I can brush off but there always ends up being one I find the next day while scrubbed in with my lead on working with a DR. I can feel the little bugger imbedded and itching and know exactly what it is. SO my prefrence will always be my ElKommando or the running kilt I made regardless of the season and the bugs.

Thanks for sharing the photos

[grizzbass]

very nice. Looks like a great place

[Hopper250]

?

And the rock formation... thats a Yeti burial mound.

North America doesn't have Yeti, we have Sasquatch.

[adempsey10]

North America doesn't have Yeti, we have Sasquatch.

Not true. My uncle's roommate ex-girlfriends' brothers' best friend was a yeti from Yellow Knife. True story.