High Sierra Topix

It looks like from the reports that the mosquito's are starting to get bad, and will only
get worse in the next couple of weeks.

On that note would love to hear members worst encounters with these blood
sucking vampires, we are talking about that one trip where the mosquito rating was
off of the HST mosquito scale!
Would be interested in the where, when, and how it has effected your backpacking
strategies during mosquito season ever since.
Do you avoid backpacking in mosquito season since this incident? Has anyone you know
been completely turned off from backpacking/camping after such a nightmarish experience?

We've had a few--but if you want to see the mountains this time of year, mosquitoes are just part of the package. Two trips with the most mosquitoes were 4th of July Weekend in the Red Mountain Basin a few years ago...we met people who were leaving simply because they ran of out bug spray. But we used head nets, bug spray, camped away from moist areas, ate in the tent from time to time, and still loved the trip.



And last year, Nelson and Reymann lakes in Yosemite were unbelievable. Here's a photo of Reymann Lake..with mosquito in place. We had them flying into our mouths as we hiked:



And my hat at 10,000 feet, two miles from the nearest water:

Blue Lake (out of Sabrina) in July about 40 years ago, spent the whole time in the tent as they were flying in our mouths. Completely stupid about everything backpacking, we camped right on the lake, no headnets, no repellent, packed our packs like grocery bags with the heavy stuff on the bottom, did not drink enough water, drove straight up from LA and started hiking, sick all night... When I found myself single a few years later, I always remembered that trip and never again wanted to visit the sierra! Now I live here by choice, and plan to do the same hike this July (for the wildflowers), sans backpack, with Herbal Armour, a repellent that works great for me and has no poisons to breathe or soak in. And I may pick up a headnet.

In 2010 I went up to 1000 Island Lake in the 3rd week of July. The swarms in that area were the worst I've experience. We had nets on constantly and did eat in our tent. Here's a pic I took.

1982--All season at Rowell Meadows, my first season as a backcountry ranger for NPS. It was a weird situation. Park Service Employee, Forest Service Land, California Water Resources Snow Survey Cabin! Actually I spent Sun-Thurs backpacking in Ranger Lakes and Sugarloaf Creek tribs. But there were Mosquitoes at Rowell the day I arrived in June and they were still nasty in September when I left. The next year there must have been a cold spell in August because even though it was a super wet winter the mosquitoes were gone by Labor Day. One week in 82 I went through a whole spray can of GI issue Deet.

Mike

The worst single day of mosquitoes has been walking (make that running) past Upper Mattie Lake in june and early July--little did I know I was running away from some big fish, too!

Mike

Speaking of Upper Mattie -- and yes that's me catching some nice fish out of there.

Last year in August around Golden Trout Lake. The worst I had seen in many years. Thank goodness for REI Jungle Juice! We were real popular with those who didn't have any or had run out. One guy was so grateful he bought our dinner at Las Casitas in Bishop.

When I was growing up I spent summers in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area on the Minnesota/Canada border. I’ve never experienced anything in the Sierra that compares to the horrific mosquitoes I encountered there. There were times they would be so thick, it seemed they came close to blotting out the sky. My wife grew up dealing with mosquitoes in Michigan and New Hampshire, while not as horrific as northern Minnesota, can be worse than anything in the Sierra. So avoiding the Sierra during mosquito season has never entered my/our minds. My wife and I have been going up in June for years and consider them a nuisance, but never a deal breaker - we just try to camp where they aren’t too horrendous.

That said, in the Sierra, the worse I’ve encountered is in 1982 with my wife at Emeric Lake in Yosemite and 1998 solo at Gladys Lake in the Minarets. For my wife and I, just saying Emeric Lake is a catchphrase for bad skeeters. In both cases, simply entering the tent was a futile attempt to try to unzip the mosquito netting and slip inside with as few skeeters as possible coming in before the netting was zipped back shut. Then I slapped the air for a few minutes, always squishing several with each slap. Something that can really drive me nuts when trying to sleep is a skeeter buzzing around my ear.

The worst for me was probably in Kaweah Basin, August a few years ago. Every day of that trip featured afternoon thundershowers, and the steady drizzle in KB kept washing off any amount of DEET that I would apply. The Basin wasn't all that wet in August, but the mosquitoes were relentless. There must be some brand of water-proof DEET, anyone know?