[captain jack]

They seem to like warm and dry. Umptanum creek and ridge are rife with the little menaces.

[Kascadia]

I'd never seen a tick in W. WA in 20+ years of living here until going up Florence Pk (MRNP) a couple of years ago. On the false summit, we stopped for a moment and there were 3 of the buggers ambitiously climbing my legs. After recovering from the surprise, the propensity to go after humans was selected against. At the time, the place reeked of ungulates, the ticks probably don't lack for opportunity here.

[Gregory]

I picked up one in Kitsap county last year fishing a beaver pond on Pope land behind mission lakes. My dog picked up a good half dozen or so from the Ueland Tree Farm Last year, I finally just stopped hiking there. My dogs have never picked up ticks playing in the woods around here in thirty years. My dogs have picked them while playing along the Skoke and Wynoochee. But then again I remember when there were no dead possums in our roads here either. Woke up one morning as a kid on a survival hike in the central cascades with one sucking blood from my cheek, I will never forget that.

[Marmot Salad]

Our dog picked up a tick on a walk near Eatonville last January. I didn't check her for ticks because it was January. She developed a bump on her chin that I thought was a wart until it fell off and started crawling away. We sent the tick to the health department. They identified it as a western black legged tick and said it is a vector for Lyme disease. She has not developed any symptoms so far.

[Malachai Constant]

Our animals picked up ticks in Kitsap county back in the 50’s probably well before then. Cat and Dog ticks are different species as are Deer ticks. Do not think most species transmit Lyme except Deer. Although this may be environmental of coincidence. They can transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted fever and Relapsing fever which are no picnic.

[Moose]

Reading about people finding ticks in areas of the state that I always presumed were relatively "safe" - i.e., Kitsap, MRNP, etc. - puts a damper on my mountain ambitions. I'm still traumatized from my experience last summer, I suppose. Along those lines, does anyone have recommendations for treated clothing (the few options at REI never fit me well) or other tick repellant methods? We always treat our clothes with Permethrin at the beginning of the season (usually around this time), but I've read that doing this is much less effective than buying the factory-treated clothing, especially after the first wash.

[Brockton]

All these stories are so creepy. One of the things I’ve always liked about Western Washington is the lack of skin irritants: no poison ivy, no rattlesnakes, and most importantly, no ticks. Oh well...

[zimmertr]

I've only knowingly came across one tick in Washington and it was on the Ingalls Creek trail last spring. My girlfriend was cold so I handed her the neck gaiter I was wearing and when she went to put it on there was a red tick on the outside of it.

[Cyclopath]

[Cyclopath]

The point being that ticks are expanding their home ranges. Tick bourne diseases are on the rise. It isn't just one weird spring, this is the new normal and we should all expect and be prepared for it It's a good idea to check your legs. They're tiny and you don't feel them walking on you.

[dixon]

I've had a tick bite from hiking Sourdough mtn in the N cascades and I see them every year that I've climbed that peak. Also seen many ticks over by Kachess Ridge and even one on my car bumper! Teananway area is also rife with ticks, Stegosaurus Butte along the middle fork and also on Crystal Peak over by Mt Rainier. They seem to be pretty much everywhere.

[texasbb]

[Moose]

[RumiDude]

[HitTheTrail]

I buy treated clothes to begin with and give then a touch-up spray with some Sawyer 0.5 % after they have had a few washings. It seems to work fine. I just did 3 days on the Chelan Lakeshore trail where my hiking partner got ticks and I didn't.