A Tick Trail: Thar's Danger in Them Thar Hills

On my last hike I made note of what I considered significant natural encounters on the trail: a rattlesnake and a bear. I mentioned these because these creatures can cause serious injury to humans and therefore make the adrenaline rush a bit. I failed to mention that I saw ticks out there as well. Dog ticks are the bigger variety that we can see easily and I brushed one off my leg (no long pants on) on day three of that hike. Deer ticks like the one blown up at left are quite a bit smaller and evade detection, even to the most diligent observer.

Fast forward 10 days (Friday) from the end of that trek and Hiker Hank is starting feel a little feverish and achy. Thinking maybe I picked up a little virus, I did not do anything about it. The next day, Saturday was no better and I was pretty much useless around the house, but I still expected it to pass; that night I was wracked with trembling, fever, and aches throughout. There was no reason to suspect anything other than a virus; who gets the flu in the summer? Sunday night I sleep fitfully and wake up twice drenched in a cold sweat. M looks over and says: Hank, look at your leg! She is looking at the back side of my left thigh, which I cannot really see. There is a sizable rash around what appears to be a bite site. OK, now we are getting a little edgy; no trip to the ER, but a phone call to Dr. Matt and an early Monday afternoon appointment. I am feeling crappier than I have in 9 years. After some discussion Dr. Matt says: looks like Lyme Disease to me, we are going to treat you for that. Heavy duty antibiotics for ten days, should be feeling better in a few days. Diagnosis to be confirmed via blood test but the classic bulls-eye rash is evident. How about that new camera.

In reflection, those larger beasts in the woods proved to be no more that a novelty. The real danger to me was that tiny little deer tick that I never saw. You can bet that on future hikes I will assiduously check myself over at the beginning and end of each day. In order for me to contract Lyme Disease the tick had to be secured for a least 24 hours, likely more. How could I have missed that? Those suckers are tiny and dangerous; eventhough they do not make your heart pound when you see one, the bacteria they carry will knock the wind out of your sails, completely.