Ticks:
I’ve found more ticks on me in the bay area than I did when I lived in Connecticut and Rhode Island. I don’t think that’s fully explained by behavioral changes.
I have a good deal of control over my exposure to ticks. I haven’t put much effort into avoiding them. Well over 90% of the times I’ve found ticks on me were after going off-trail. Brushing against tall grass seems especially high risk. Wide trails seem to have very low risk. The clearest exception I’ve seen to this pattern may have involved transmission via a dog.
I started getting more tick bites after I stopped using sunscreen. That’s definitely not due to getting more ticks on me. I think the sunscreen caused them to wander around much longer before deciding where to bite, giving me more time to find them when they’re still crawling.
I’ve never found a tick more than 24 hours after my suspected exposure. I don’t think I’m unusually diligent about checking for them.
The big caveat here is that the ticks that transmit Lyme are smaller than the ones I’m used to finding on me. I had a recent test that detected small amounts of a Lyme virus in my blood. I haven’t seen any corresponding symptoms, so I don’t have any guess as to where I lived when I got infected. I presume I never detected the tick that caused it.
Other insects: those mosquito maps seem misleading. There’s a lot of local variation.
Most parts of California seem pretty mosquito-free. The few parts that I’ve found bad were in mountains where the snow recently melted.
The median location in New England has significantly more mosquitoes, and also a wider variety of other distracting insects, than the median location in California. My impression is that Maine is the worst state overall for insect distractions of the states that I have enough experience with to evaluate (mainly New England and the area from Colorado west), yet those maps suggest it’s good.
I consider grass pollen to be a bigger negative than insects. Grass pollen bothers me much more in New England than it does anywhere in the west.
My overall preferences (for reasons mostly involving weather, outdoor recreational options, and political climate):
Of the top 5 places that you mention, Reno is my top choice, Bellingham is 2nd, New Hampshire is 3rd. Colorado also seems worth considering.
There’s a significant chance I’ll want to stay in the bay area, probably moving to somewhere a bit less urban than Berkeley.
Yeah I think that mosquito map is showing the Zika-carrying species, but there are 40 other species in Washington. Mosquitos in New England (certainly Maine where I grew up) can be pretty brutal, especially when you include the weeks when the black flies and midges are also biting.
Ticks: I’ve found more ticks on me in the bay area than I did when I lived in Connecticut and Rhode Island. I don’t think that’s fully explained by behavioral changes.
I have a good deal of control over my exposure to ticks. I haven’t put much effort into avoiding them. Well over 90% of the times I’ve found ticks on me were after going off-trail. Brushing against tall grass seems especially high risk. Wide trails seem to have very low risk. The clearest exception I’ve seen to this pattern may have involved transmission via a dog.
I started getting more tick bites after I stopped using sunscreen. That’s definitely not due to getting more ticks on me. I think the sunscreen caused them to wander around much longer before deciding where to bite, giving me more time to find them when they’re still crawling.
I’ve never found a tick more than 24 hours after my suspected exposure. I don’t think I’m unusually diligent about checking for them.
The big caveat here is that the ticks that transmit Lyme are smaller than the ones I’m used to finding on me. I had a recent test that detected small amounts of a Lyme virus in my blood. I haven’t seen any corresponding symptoms, so I don’t have any guess as to where I lived when I got infected. I presume I never detected the tick that caused it.
Other insects: those mosquito maps seem misleading. There’s a lot of local variation. Most parts of California seem pretty mosquito-free. The few parts that I’ve found bad were in mountains where the snow recently melted. The median location in New England has significantly more mosquitoes, and also a wider variety of other distracting insects, than the median location in California. My impression is that Maine is the worst state overall for insect distractions of the states that I have enough experience with to evaluate (mainly New England and the area from Colorado west), yet those maps suggest it’s good.
I consider grass pollen to be a bigger negative than insects. Grass pollen bothers me much more in New England than it does anywhere in the west.
My overall preferences (for reasons mostly involving weather, outdoor recreational options, and political climate): Of the top 5 places that you mention, Reno is my top choice, Bellingham is 2nd, New Hampshire is 3rd. Colorado also seems worth considering.
There’s a significant chance I’ll want to stay in the bay area, probably moving to somewhere a bit less urban than Berkeley.
Yeah I think that mosquito map is showing the Zika-carrying species, but there are 40 other species in Washington. Mosquitos in New England (certainly Maine where I grew up) can be pretty brutal, especially when you include the weeks when the black flies and midges are also biting.