We went to
Moab early on Thursday and got a nice camping site in the Colorado
Riverway just outside of town. We were lucky to get that with the big weekend coming. We wanted to be someplace where we didn't have to drive far to see lots of sites over the weekend. We spent most of the day hiking in Arches (where ALL the campsites are now reservation only). But that evening I realized that the gnat bites were really a problem. What looked like measles on my legs has now turned to looking like chicken pox. It seems that when a mosquito bites you it is a nice clean entry to withdraw blood. But the gnats have mandibles and saw a hole in your skin to extract the blood. Then they leave behind a nasty saliva and a raw hole. I am a mess. I have counted over 130 bites on each leg and about 50 on my arms and even some on my scalp. These things itch like crazy.
I dosed myself with cortisone and took a
benadryl before going to sleep. It was hot today and tonight (in the 90's today and cooling into the 70's tonight.) The van is hot and stuffy. At midnight I wake up and the
Benadryl has acted like having coffee. I am itching like never before. My legs are on fire and I feel like things are crawling on me. I try more cortisone. It calms things for an hour. Now I am into the Aloe. Every 20 minutes. My bites have swollen up and are getting small blisters. Especially the ring of bites around my ankle where the socks were. I am a
wr
eck. Steve is snoring peacefully. I want to throw stuff at him and make him join me in my misery. I try to read but can't concentrate. I am trying not to rip my fingernails up and down my legs. More cortisone. (Now over the daily limit). More aloe .... will this night never end? Finally at 5am I fall into sleep for an hour. Went the pharmacy first thing and got a consult. Pharmacist says Dr. probably can't do much but gives me a
benadryl cream. Can't dab it on my bites as there are too many so I slather myself with it in a nice thick cool coating.
Ahhh .... We do
Arches again but I am not in the mo
od to hike much. My legs look like I have a bad case of leprosy and I am tired and cranky. Steve does some trails. I stay in the van and read and doze and apply aloe and wait for the cream to start to help. So the curse of
Hovenweep really does make you weep. Not only are the bites weeping (and ugly) but I was too. After 24 hours of cream and aloe I am a little better. I am now down to looking like the chicken pox again and the bites are starting to dry and get crusty .... still itchy and ugly, but heading back to measles look.
I will
definitely have scars from this, physical and psychological.
We went to Moab early on Thursday and got a nice camping site in the Colorado Riverway just outside of town. We were lucky to get that with the big weekend coming. We wanted to be someplace where we didn't have to drive far to see lots of sites over the weekend. We spent most of the day hiking in Arches (where ALL the campsites are now reservation only). But that evening I realized that the gnat bites were really a problem. What looked like measles on my legs has now turned to looking like chicken pox. It seems that when a mosquito bites you it is a nice clean entry to withdraw blood. But the gnats have mandibles and saw a hole in your skin to extract the blood. Then they leave behind a nasty saliva and a raw hole. I am a mess. I have counted over 130 bites on each leg and about 50 on my arms and even some on my scalp. These things itch like crazy. 
I dosed myself with cortisone and took a benadryl before going to sleep. It was hot today and tonight (in the 90's today and cooling into the 70's tonight.) The van is hot and stuffy. At midnight I wake up and the Benadryl has acted like having coffee. I am itching like never before. My legs are on fire and I feel like things are crawling on me. I try more cortisone. It calms things for an hour. Now I am into the Aloe. Every 20 minutes. My bites have swollen up and are getting small blisters. Especially the ring of bites around my ankle where the socks were. I am a wr
eck. Steve is snoring peacefully. I want to throw stuff at him and make him join me in my misery. I try to read but can't concentrate. I am trying not to rip my fingernails up and down my legs. More cortisone. (Now over the daily limit). More aloe .... will this night never end? Finally at 5am I fall into sleep for an hour. Went the pharmacy first thing and got a consult. Pharmacist says Dr. probably can't do much but gives me a benadryl cream. Can't dab it on my bites as there are too many so I slather myself with it in a nice thick cool coating. Ahhh .... We do Arches again but I am not in the mo
od to hike much. My legs look like I have a bad case of leprosy and I am tired and cranky. Steve does some trails. I stay in the van and read and doze and apply aloe and wait for the cream to start to help. So the curse of Hovenweep really does make you weep. Not only are the bites weeping (and ugly) but I was too. After 24 hours of cream and aloe I am a little better. I am now down to looking like the chicken pox again and the bites are starting to dry and get crusty .... still itchy and ugly, but heading back to measles look.
I will definitely have scars from this, physical and psychological.
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