High Sierra Topix

Taboose Eastern- none
Taboose Western- 1
JMT- 2
Bench Lake- 3

Third and Fourth Tyee Lakes and Table Mountain--4 or 5. A recent hatch with billowing clouds of them. First and second Tyee Lakes seemed to be below mosquito elevation.

Piute Lake--3-4. They were numerous and persistant in the evening.

Goddard Canyon--1

Evolution Valley--1, but the rain might have temporaily suppressed them when I was there.

Evolution Lake--I encountered none early in the morning, but others complained they had been very bad.

Wanda lake, Muir Pass--none, above snow line.

Upper and lower LeConte canyon--I only passed through in the afternoon and encountered none when I did.

Dusy Switches--2.

Dusy Basin--3 when I passed through in the morning. They were annoying when I stopped to get water.

Long Lake basin. 2-4? I encountered a few as I passed through, but many complained about them and other hikers wore bug hats as they hiked.

Northern Humphreys Basin - 5. As bad as anything I've encountered.
The equivalent elevation on the other side of the ridge (French Canyon) was a 1, even though the area is full of water. How does this work? The same phenomenon in the Kearsarge area, where north of Glen Pass was awful and south wasn't bad at all.

Whitney Portal to Guitar Lake this weekend - I think I saw two mosquitoes the whole weekend - I never needed to use bug spray.

August 2-4 to 11,100' in the Middle Fork of Bishop Creek drainage was a 3 in the early mornings and evenings. In some of the wetter meadow areas it was about a 1-2 during the middle of the day. Very manageable with deet and head net. And a great time to go!

This weekend, I went along the Isberg Trail (western side of Ansel Adams wilderness) up to the last viewpoint before the trail descends to Hemlock Crossing... in on Sat mid day, out late in the day on Sunday...

There were a few spots where the skeeters were a "1". In a few places they were a 2 or 3. However the majority of the trip was a "4" or "5". At times it was difficult to breath without consuming them. Several times i had to pick them out of my eyes. Seriously.

They were heavy even mid-day, especially in wooded areas (most of this trail). In open spots, especially in the mid day sun, they were lighter, but still present. Plus, in the sunny spots, there were also lots of larger flies.

Desolation Wilderness 8/6-8/8
Aloha: 3-4 at dawn and throughout the day and evening.
Heather and Susie: zero. Amazing difference going downhill a bit.

August 5-8 Ansel Adams Wilderness
In the wooded, marshy areas and meadows, even mid-day was a "3". At Ediza Lake, evening and early morning hours were a "4" with mid-morning rising to a "5". The Shadow Creek stretch between Shadow Lake and Ediza varied from 1-2 mid-day to a 3-4 in the evening/early morning hours. Wonderful breezes were blowing through the canyons and along the switchback areas. SJ River crossing to Shadow Lake = 0-1. 10,000' pass south of Garnet Lake down to Garnet = "1" mid-day. With a mosquito head net for evening/morning and diligent application of a 40% deet spray, I was able to hike in shorts and short-sleeved shirt over half the time and have very few bites to show for the 3-day/2-night trip. Skeeters not anywhere near as bad as I was expecting!

Hoover Wilderness, Aug. 4-8. Virginia Lakes TH to Summit Lake, West Lake, East Lake, hike out. I was girding myself for the worst but miraculously, hardly any mosquitoes! None at all at Summit Lake, a few at West and East lakes but pretty anemic and probably completely gone in a few days. They swarmed at a few boggy spots on the trail but I only used repellent once, and the natural kind at that!

Convict Canyon on Sun 8/7, bugs near lakes, meadows and in the shade: 3-4. I used Ultrathon (34% deet), and it was ok. They were bouncing off my face after, but not biting. Be sure to apply deet for wading, that's where they got me. The second time I put it on as soon as I took my boots off and they didn't bother me.

We hiked from Laurel Lakes Road to Mt Baldwin, which means 2000' gain at end of hike. I saw the post about the Convict Creek crossing (old bridge crossing, didn't look good), so thats why we went that way.