High Sierra Topix

Better late than never - Twenty Lakes Basin July 14-15. Lots of skeeters. The wind was blowing so it wasn't too bad, but when out of the wind or when it stopped, the bloodsuckers came out of nowhere to feast.

Just returned from five days 7-30>8-3 up Bear Creek. Mosquito situation for me was very predictable. The lower canyon of Bear Creek below 9k has numerous seeps coming down from the high canyon slopes above. Due to the glaciated granite geology, willow, and aspen clogged stream courses, all of them harbor mosquitos that will likely last throughout summer. Thus one can be hiking along in many areas with few if any squeets and enter a green wet area where modest numbers thrive. The four worst areas of that trail were at Twin Falls ~8100, the first swamp bench above at ~8250, the second swamp bench above at ~8600, and Kip Camp streams at 8900. Outside of those areas during mid day, one can easily forgo repellent and merely squish the few about. However late in the afternoon, overnight into early morning, all areas had some mosquitoes hunting about even in the driest landscapes. On my last night, I filled my water containers on a stream at the PCT/Bear Creek trail junction, took my second refreshing dip in the creek at 8800. Then climbed up to the domes at 9000 feet where I camped among the smooth granite and junipers. And not surprisingly, even there, mosquitoes hunting during the night would every 15 minutes or so disrupt my atempt at enjoying unemcumbered peace of mind in sleeping without any head net. ...David

I just got back from a trip to Kearsarge Lakes and was amazed at how few skeeters we saw. We didn't even bother with bug juice and I only got a couple of bites. Spent one night at Flower Lake and needed the DEET there but they still didn't seem as bad as in the past.
Gary C.

Humphrey"s Basin, 11,200' 8/2-8/7 Even though we were camped near a lush green damp creek, we only had a handful and not particularly agressive. Never used the juice

My brother and I hiked out of Agnew Meadows late in the afternoon of August 8 -- no bugs down along the San Joaquin. No bugs later that night at the upper end of Shadow Lake, or the next day at Thousand Islands Lake, or the next day at the far west end of Thousand Islands, or below Donahue Pass, or in the Lyell Fork, and on up to Tuolumne (Aug 13). It was a completely mosquito-free trip! But it was also the driest we had ever seen these areas -- no fires allowed at any elevation outside of Yosemite (as far as we know Yosemite is allowing them below 9600').

We just hiked the loop from North Lake to South Lake via Lamarck Col and Darwin Canyon (Bishop area), stretching the trip out to six nights (hiked in August 14, out August 20). The trip was almost completely mosquito free - maybe saw one or two in lower Le Conte Canyon and in lower Dusy Basin, but no bites, no repellent, no nets. The lack of mosquitos greatly enhanced the pleasure of our trip.

I was lying under my tarp the first night of my trip over Pine Creek Pass, Aug 22-28 and got buzzed by a couple of bugs. That was one hell of a time to realize that I had not brought any bug juice. But all was well. There were no bugs at the lakes above French Canyon. There were some back at Lower Pine Lake again on the last night.

Sept. 2-3, Dinkey Lakes Wilderness had no mosquitos whatsoever.