Rae lakes or Ediza/1000 islands Lk mosquitos

[kpeter]

I'm sorry to have to agree with SSSdave, but the first two weeks of July are just about the worst time to take a child into the Sierra, from the standpoint of mosquitoes. The amount of snow and the pace of the melt does make a big difference to mosquito season, but the first weeks of July are almost calculated to have heavy mosquitoes whether either at the front end or the tail end of the hatch.

I turned my children off to backpacking by taking them into Sabrina basin in the 2nd week of July. It was an average year, and it was impossible to rest anywhere outdoors whether in the middle of day or the middle of night. In contrast, I took a 14 year old on the Agnew to Tuolumne trip in the 4th week of July in a wet year and had some bad mosquitoes at 1000 Island and in the upper Lyell fork, but not elsewhere--they were tapering off. I would say the 2nd week, below 9000 feet, in a dry year, would probably be safe.

After those trips I vowed not to take people who are mosquito averse into the Sierra before August. I do my solo trips in June and July, since, like Dave, I can still enjoy my trips by using clothing, repellent, and site selection to deal with mosquitoes. My experience is that children have a much harder time psychologically with handling what it takes to live with mosquitoes.

[FishfinderAK]

Very good points!
Thanks again for the replies!
I need to think about the skeeter situation.
I know is all relative to snowpack. But is mid June much better, as far as the skeeters? I suppose then the problem becomes to much snow on the passes..?

Regarding permits...If we do decide to go the Agnew to Tuolumne trail. Is the wilderness permit from the highline trailhead, NR Agnew, all we need? How far in advance can I get this permit?
Thank you again for the help. We sincerely appreciate it!

[kpeter]

I believe the permits are available six months in advance. From Agnew you have three routes to Tuolumne--you can take the high trail, which gives wonderful views but bypasses Shadow lake, Gem Lake, and a possible side trip to Ediza. There is the River trail which has the same disadvantages (unless you take the cutoff to the outlet of Gem--not a manicured trail) and lacks the view. The most common route is to go up the Shadow lake trail and camp in the vicinity of Ediza, then take the JMT to Garnet and Thousand Island. I love both the JMT and the High trails, but I'd probably do the JMT to see Shadow, Ediza, and Garnet on the first trip. But if you are flexible there are more permits available than just the high trail.

The middle of June would probably not be better and could be worse for mosquitoes. Basically, mosquitoes will appear about one week after snow melt, peak about two weeks after snow melt, and taper off to the point they become tolerable about 5-6 weeks later. So if you know the elevation and how much snow, you can develop a pretty good guess. From experience, I can say that the fourth week of July in a wet year still had mosquitoes at 1000 Island Lake, but they were just becoming tolerable. And I can tell you that the fourth week of July in a dry year there were no mosquitoes at 1000 Island Lake. So you get the picture.