Ticks and Trail Running | Keep Ticks Off on The Trail

Last updated on April 14th, 2021 at 05:30 pm

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If you’ve been running trails long enough you know that ticks and trail running go hand-in-hand. And while trail running is SUPER enjoyable, rising tick populations have added an obstacle to that enjoyment.

Ticks are arachnids that fall from trees or live in overgrown vegetation. They latch onto animals (including humans) passing by, find a dark moist spot, and feed by sucking blood. Since ticks can transmit Lyme disease they can be dangerous. Wearing light-colored clothing, keeping hair contained, and cleaning thoroughly after being on the trail are the best ways to avoid ticks.

Rising tick populations have made avoiding this arachnid more difficult for trail runners.

8 Tips for Avoiding Ticks While Trail Running

Ticks aren’t just a problem because they suck our blood, but because they may carry Lyme disease. This makes preventing, avoiding, and cleansing ourselves of ticks very important.

We go into each of the methods in detail further on in the post, but here is a rundown on the best ways to keep ticks off your body during a trail run:

Wear Light Colored Clothing
Keep Your Hair Contained
Use Tick Focused Bug Spray
Adjust Running to Avoid Overhanging Branches
Wash Your Clothes After Trail Run
Bathe Yourself Following Trail Run
Wash Your Hair Thoroughly
Have Someone Else Check You For Ticks

While the list above provides a good idea of the steps you can take to keep ticks off your body during a run, below we expand each of these points and provide more detail as to how you can keep ticks off your body.

1. Wear Light Colored Clothing

Ticks aren’t large insects, and their lightweight low profile bodies make them very difficult to feel.

Wearing light-colored clothing is ideal for spotting bugs like ticks that have made landfall on your body. Yes, it is true that spotting ticks and removing them isn’t technically a ‘prevention’ method if the ticks have already found a way onto your body, but this simple line of defense is a way to prevent ticks from making contact with your skin and biting hold.

White Socks or Compression Sleeves

Not all white clothing is created equal when it comes to ticks, and this is primarily because it is probably impractical for you to cover your entire body with white long sleeves and pants. After all, it is likely hot at least some of the time where you live.

So, maybe pass on the white pants, and go with long white socks, or white compression sleeves instead. This makes sense on a comfort level, but also on a practical level since ticks often make the first contact from grasses or branches that overhang the edges of a trail. For this reason, wearing long white socks or compression sleeves might actually reduce your chances of being bit.

White Hats or Head Wear

If you wanted to take the white clothing angle a bit further, obviously white shorts are good, but again it may be more practical to have a white shirt, tank top, and certainly a white hat.

Just as ticks tend to grab hold of your legs from overhanging plants, one of the other primary ways a tick makes contact with a person is by dropping off of branches to land on passing deer…or us. This makes wearing a white hat a big benefit.

Just because we are recommending wearing white (or light) clothing doesn’t mean we are suggesting that you can’t express yourself through the attire you wear. That said, there should probably be some thought given to spotting ticks when on the trail, and if that means passing up on that sleek black running top you might want to consider making that sacrifice.

2. Keep Your Hair Contained

We mention hats above, and we do recommend white hats as stated. That said, wearing a white hat only allows you to spot the tick, and it doesn’t really touch on the other primary reason trail goers should wear a hat; hiding your hair.

It is important to try and reduce ways ticks can hide, and it is important to do everything you can to cut off the roadways that give ticks access to the most palpable places for feeding, which also happen to be the easiest places for them to hide. I’m talking about your hair.

If it flows lower than your shoulders you might have the perfect environment for ticks that landed on your body to hide and settle in.

Ticks will often crawl through your hair to get to your scalp, around your ears, or other places where blood flows well. If your hair is down, you might be playing right into what the ticks want. Keep your hair up, and do your best to contain it beneath a white or light colored hat.

After some of the more passive tick prevention methods are explored it may still be advisable to do a little more. As climates have changed tick populations have grown in areas of the US, and non-native species carrying disease have been spreading like crazy. Just check out this National Geographic article on the New Exotic Tick Spreading Through the Eastern U.S.

Topical sprays that focus on defeating the tick might want to be considered if you want to take every last step to keep ticks away from your blood.

3. Tick Focused Bug Spray

So, there are a lot of different bug sprays out there to keep you bug-free.

First, if you are the type of person who has a hard time using suntan lotion or bug spray, there are still options. A number of natural spray options are available to provide protection above and beyond passive prevention techniques like light clothing.

These sprays should be considered an option if you have extremely sensitive skin, or just get grossed out by rubbing stuff on your skin. These types of sprays look like they contain less skin-irritating ingredients.

Here is a link to what seems to be a highly rated spray, derived from 100% plant-based ingredients: Natural Tick Spray (click to check price on Amazon).

If skin sensitivity isn’t your issue, and you are most concerned with the ticks that might feast on your blood, perhaps a more potent spray is in order. For you, stronger repellents are available through a few different companies. Spraying the skin and the clothing reduces the odds that a tick will take hold of your clothes and climb up to a spot where they can draw blood.

4. Running Technique to Avoid Ticks

There isn’t much mystery behind the main running techniques if you’re wanting to avoid ticks.

Essentially, do your best to run in a way where you avoid the overhanging grasses and branches. If you do this, you are likely going to automatically use the second major running technique to avoid ticks; run in the center of the trail.

Obviously, this isn’t always possible, as single track trails are usually known for their narrowness and overhanging vegetation, but making an attempt to remain in the center of the trail will certainly reduce the odds of ticks taking hold.

If you are hellbent on avoiding ticks completely, you could take special precautions to select trails that are without branches and grasses; bridal trails often have less overhanging branches than single track trails, and for this reason bridal trails would be a good option.

5. Wash Your Clothes for Tomorrow

We’ve all been there; the trail run ends at dusk, and by the time we cool down and get inside for a shower it is getting dark. The last thing you want to do is laundry.

Believe it or not, however, squeezing laundry in before bed is one of the best tick prevention techniques out there. I know it is late, and maybe it feels like a little bit of a waste doing a load of laundry without more in the cycle BUT getting your cloths washed now will prevent any hidden ticks from crawling out of your clothes where they can hide and wait to make contact with your sweet tasting skin.

6. Bathe Yourself

Obviously taking a bath or shower is key to washing bugs away, however, ticks have a tendency to find the nooks and crannies of your body.

I have personally discovered a tick latched onto my underarm, and after doing more research it turns out that ticks generally love this area of the body. The same goes for behind the knees and around your groin; essentially, places with good access to blood that are a little more difficult to get to.

If you have armpit hair this becomes an even better hiding spot for ticks looking for a meal. Be sure to not only scrub and clean the hidden spots on your body, but actually look at your armpits when cleaning them out. Ticks are sometimes so small (and with a flat profile) that they are difficult to feel. In other words, if you don’t see it you may not find it.

7. Wash Your Hair Thoroughly

Since ticks fall from trees and branches, it is logical to pay close attention to your head when washing your hair. The fact that hair is a great place to hide makes it extra important to do a double check on your scalp, because once a tick takes hold under your hair it may take a good while to find.

Since those of us with long hair may not wash hair every day it is important to find a tick immediately after a run. For infrequent hair washers it becomes even more important to wash hair thoroughly after a trail run. If a tick takes hold on your head, hidden by hair, it may be a couple days until you find it.

8. Have Someone Else Check You For Ticks

This post mentions how difficult finding ticks can be numerous times. Asking a close friend to help check your body for ticks is one of the best ways to make sure you are tick free. Sometimes it is a huge help having an extra pair of eyes looking at your armpits, behind your knees, or checking your scalp.

While it may seem a bit odd to ask a friend to give you a tick check it should become more common if you and your friend are going to be hitting the trails at the height of tick season.

Other Tick Prevention Methods

Did we miss something? Are you a pro at avoiding tick bites? Please leave a comment if you have a technique to stay tick-free.

If you have experienced a tick bite please check for the signs of Lyme disease, and if you fear you are developing the illness do not delay contacting a medical professional.

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Image Credit Flickr Creative Commons John Tann (source) Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)