High Sierra Topix

6/9/12 At dusk: North Lake =1, to Upper Lamarck = 1-0 Slight breeze kept most of them off.
6/10/12 Day hike: Sabrina to Blue Lake 1-0, and I concur with schmalz who was at the same place on the same day, all my bites were at Dingleberry ~2. As soon as the breeze died down they were suddenly on you.

Clark Lakes on Sat 6/9 & Tu 6/12: 4
Thousand Island Lake on Sat 6/9-Tu 6/12: 0 on 6/9 -> 2 on 6/11. Frost the first night (6/9), less so the next 2 nights.
Rush Crk drainage on M 6/11: 1-2

I'm not enough of a connoisseur of early season mosquitoes to know this, but is this normal??

Rae Lakes and Sixty Lakes morning and evening: 0 - 1
Rae Lakes & SLB during the day in bright sunshine: 4 (and 5+ in northern SLB -- I would have gone mad if it weren't for the breeze)!

No mosquitoes south of Glen Pass, except at the intersection of the Kearsarge Lakes trail and the main Kearsarge trail (where there was no water)?!

I read a news article on mosquitoes in the Sierra and there are many species, specfic to certain ecosystems. There is one species that only lives in the lodgepole forests which generally are dry areas. They hatch after the snow melts due to moisture that is just below the duff. They can be thick even when it looks like there is no water around. They get active in sunlight. There is another species that specialize in oak areas (Yosemite Valley for an example). Other species specialize in alpine environments. A key to all though, is a small duration after snowmelt. As for when they bug you, wind has a lot to do with their activity. I just listened to an NPR report on a study done on why mosquitoes are not squished by raindrops. The are so light that they just "ride" on the drop for a milisecond, then are blown off. They are totally at the mercy of the wind. I do not think there are a lot of broad generalizations - how bad they are are very site-specific and condition specific. The only general thing I have noticed is that they peak about a week or two after snowmelt and have a peak period, then taper off. If there are several nights of hard freeze during their hatching, they can be significantly reduced. It takes more than just one night's light frost. Wind is your friend. I always avoid protected forested areas to camp in mosquito season. I have rarely had mosquitoes past LaborDay. I have also observed that the mosquito season in the Sierra is longer than in the Wind River Mountains, but the short peak in Wyoming is more intense.

Car camping and day hiking Mineral King, June 10th - 12th:

1 in the Cold Springs Campground

0 at Franklin Lake

6/9-6/10: Loon Lake to Rockbound Lake

0-1 during the day
2 in the evening in wind-protected areas, otherwise 0

Daisy, thanks for that info. I had no idea there were multiple species of mosquitoes, each with its own specialty! (Sort of like doctors.)

June 9-10, Horton Lake: 1

Only a few isolated buggers at our camp about 100 ft from the lake. Temps at night down into the lower 30s, so not warm enough yet for most.

Q wrote:
I had no idea there were multiple species of mosquitoes, each with its own specialty!

Here you go Q: http://www.mosquitoes.org/Aedes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, I'm glad to know that at least one species are "reluctant blood feeders." I suspect they get a lot of encouragement from their peers, however.