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Post-monsoon we have lots of flies and insects in the forests. I was hiking up an easy trail last weekend. It got dark and I still had a couple of hours of walking distance to cover.

With no light around, flies tend to hover over my head and in front of my face all the time as I was a bit sweaty and obviously due to the headlamp, which is very very irritating. Most of them were typically attracted by the light.

How do you deal with this?

Closely related: How to deal with little flies flying into the eyes?

|improve this question
  • Did you try any bug spray? – James Jenkins Oct 25 '16 at 8:56
  • @JamesJenkins: No, I haven't. I am typically away from sprays and lotions when it comes to being outdoors. Though I do understand that sometimes you need them even if you don't want to use them. – WedaPashi Oct 25 '16 at 10:19
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    put simply: if you don't want flies around your head, don't put your lamp on your head. – njzk2 Oct 25 '16 at 19:31
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    @njzk2: WOW, turn that into an answer, without any edits and see the rep magic. – WedaPashi Oct 26 '16 at 6:06
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Fastening the lamp further down (eg, chest, waist) generally provides better perception of trail features and makes it easier to wear a headnet. If the light source is above your eyes, you won't be able to see the shadows cast by trail obstructions as well to judge their height/distance. If the light is below your eyes, roots and rocks would cast a shadow that you could see much better.

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  • Can you explain why placing the light source away from the head improves depth perception or point to a reference? I definitely have to try that out. – imsodin Oct 26 '16 at 11:05
  • @imsodin Depth perception may be a misnomer for it (maybe I'll reword my answer), but if the light source is above your eyes, you won't be able to see the shadows cast by trail obstructions as well to judge their height/distance. If the light is below your eyes, roots and rocks would cast a shadow that you could see much better. – topshot Oct 26 '16 at 11:50
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The easiest thing to do would be to take the lamp off your head and walk with it as a torch in hand. That'd take some of the attention away from your face. Next I'd put on a bug net over my face, and finally I'd walk while waving one of these in front of my face:

Electric Fly Swatter:

enter image description here You'd be amazed by how effective thinning the swarm out every once and a while is at keeping the bugs down.

It also makes having a lot of bugs around very satisfying, because you get to have fun zapping them all while you hike.

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    a tennis racquet? – njzk2 Oct 25 '16 at 14:37
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    @njzk2 Well, a tennis racquet under tension - the flies will get smoldered. I would certainly never use one of these while hiking, no matter how effective they may be x-) – imsodin Oct 25 '16 at 15:05
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    It's an electric fly swatter. I'm not the type to wear bug repellant, I get rid of the bugs. – ShemSeger Oct 25 '16 at 17:10
  • @imsodin I'm guessing you've never experienced mosquitos up North have you? – ShemSeger Oct 25 '16 at 21:57
  • What are the dimensions of this thing? – ab2 ReinstateMonicaNow Oct 26 '16 at 0:30

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