High Sierra Topix

Sabrina Basin 07/09 - 07/11

Blue Lake: 2 during the day, 3 at dusk/dawn
Moonlight Lake: 1 during the day, 2 at sunset

Overall, light and bearable during the day throught, heavy at dusk but fine w/ headnet and deet. Well worth it for the flowers.

North Lake Campground: 2-3 if not moving and no wind
Lower Lamarck Lake: 1-2
Darwin Canyon: 0-1, some swarms of black flies in the talus
Darwin Bench: 0-1
Lake 11540: small hatch, 1
Lake 11910: 0
Goethe Lake: 0
Muriel Lake: 0 (windy)

7/7 - Agnew Meadows: 3-4 in places, but only 2 (in spots) or 1 once we started climbing
7/7-7/8: Thousand Is. Lake: 2 (at the low end)
7/8-7/9: Garnet Lake: 2 (only at dusk/dawn)
7/9-7/10: Ediza Lake: 1-2
7/10-7/11: Minaret Lake: 2
7/11: Trail to Devil's Postpile: Mostly 1, some 2, one spot 4 in valley below Minaret Lk (stagnant pond nearby).

Slept every night with only a tarp (no enclosure). Only needed a headnet at Minaret Lake around dusk. Interestingly, the mosquitoes seem to go to bed once it's full dark. Slept every night with no netting and no repellant under my quilt. Zero bites on my face or hands.

Does anyone have any current beta for Onion Valley TH or Robinson Lake?

Duck Pass / Coldwater TH to VVR, then back to Reds Meadow

7/5 up to Duck pass -2, Purple lake -3

7/6 down Purple creek -3, crossing Fish creek 3-4, Beetlebug lake -3

7/7 Brave lake area -2, Wilbur may lake 2-3

7/8 b4 Good dale pass -2 in areas, after 1-2, VVR -0-

7/9 Upper Graveyard Lake 1-2

7/10 Peter Pande Lake 1-2

7/11 Crossing Fish Creek again at 9am, about a 2, Reds Meadow at 5:30pm 0-1

Like everytrip I got bit, but as the week progressed along with the itching, the mosquitoes subsided. I used 40% deet and it was bearable. IMOP, they seem to be dieing back, should be a good season in a week or two if that.

July 12-14 Eagle Lake Mineral King: 3

I'm the tasty one in the group...the other two probably had two to three bites over the weekend and I'm upwards of 20. That was through my permethrin treated clothing.

Bear Diversion TH to JMT: 2

JMT along Bear Creek toward Upper Bear Creek Meadows: 3

Lake Italy trail to Brown bear lake: 1-2

Upper Bear Lakes Basin down to Vee Lake: 1-2

Whole trip I wore permethrin treated pants, and a long sleeved nylon shirt which the mosquitos could not penetrate.
Used headnet quite frequently in the evening, along with a dab of Deet on my hands and neck.
With this combo, through these areas, I was only bit a handful of times in 5 days.

July 7- Virginia Lakes - 1, Return Lake - 2
July 8- Spiller Canyon - 1, Miller Lake -1
July 9- Matterhorn Canyon - 1, Slide Canyon - 1
July 10- Mule Pass to Robinson Lake - 2

Pleasant trip, never used head net, worst part was area above Twin Lakes.

7/17 - Big Pine CG + 1/2 mile walk up south fork = 1
7/18 - Hike from CG to and camp at 3rd Lake = 1
7/19 - Hike from 3rd to 4th and 5th Lakes, circumnavigate 4th Lake = 1
7/20 - Hike out from 3th Lake to TH = 1

Very pleasant, camped in dry area away from 3rd Lake, nice breeze, only a few isolated bites in 4 days!

7/17/14 to 7/20/14

I would say the overall average for our entire trip was a 2. Most of my bites came from not putting on DET or long sleeves/pants after swimming, stopping in the shade, or the sun setting. Mosquitoes were present but very manageable. As we hiked in other groups seemed to think the mosquitoes were much worse. Maybe they had a low tolerance or no bug spray or the recent thunder showers created more mosquitoes.

Crabtree trail head to Deer Lake - 2 to 3. There were parts in the shade along the trail or near the creeks the mosquitoes came out when we stopped moving. Again this was partially our fault as we often had not yet put any DET on and were wearing short sleeves.

At Deer Lake Campsite - 2. We camped on the south shore on the decomposed granite. Between that, the wind and the exposure there were very few mosquitoes and very manageable. They only came out in the evening and at that time the weather allowed for long sleeves and pants.

Deer Lake to Emigrant Lake - 2 to 3. Same story as the first trail hike. mosquitoes were prevalent in shady wet areas but still manageable if you prepared.

At Emigrant Lake - 1. We were only here during the middle of the day so again due to the wind, exposure and sun there were no mosquitoes.

At Gem Lake - 2. Here we saw several large swarms come near us but it seemed like our large smoky fire kept them away. Without the fire this would probably need to be upgraded to a 3. The recent thunder showers that day did not help.

TL/DR: Mosquitoes all in all were very manageable and we had only a few bites and a great trip.