Mosquito Report 2007

[SSSdave]

Just did a two-night backpack up in the 8k to 10k elevations in Mineral King valley June 17>19. Never bothered to put on repellent however I almost always am well covered at this time of summer including a safari type cap with a good neck and ear drape. In most areas, there were a few about late afternoon and fewer in early morning, especially along lush vegetation and streams. When I sat down to rest after some sweaty climbing, a few would buzz my face or land on my pants then get squashed. I did get a few bites on my hands from stray bloodsuckers in surprise. Midday took a dunk in White Chief Creek at 9k, layed out on a nice warm dark rock for half and hour, and never saw a single squeeter.

In Giant Forest, at 6k to 8k elevations there were even less squeeters though again around wet areas a few would occasionally buzz by.

From what I saw on my two South Yuba backpacks over Memorial Day and my Desolation backpack two weeks ago, this is going to generally be a low mosquito summer. However there are always some swampy high vegetation jungly meadow places like Blaney Meadows that will likely keep breeding them through most of the summer. ...David

[SSSdave]

... I ended up getting over 100 bites because I forgot to apply deet and those skeeters just bit through the fabric of my long sleeve shirt.

Now you know. Mosquitoes will readily stick their blood sucking probosci right through thin weave fabrics like cotton. Thus hiking in just t-shirts at this time of year is often not wise. The solution is dense weave fabrics like most nylon and fine synthetic weaves. I regularly hike in just an ultra-light highly breathable (best no water resistance) thin nylon shell with a front zipper and a hood. Unlike cotton it won't soak up sweat and instead evaporates it off quickly. ...David

[ritter]

From what I saw on my two South Yuba backpacks over Memorial Day and my Desolation backpack two weeks ago, this is going to generally be a low mosquito summer.

I've got a trip planned to Kaiser Wilderness July 2. Here's hoping for a lackluster sucker season!

[Matilda]

North Lake to Pine Creek June 19-21--one half of the party took the Piute trail down to Hutchinson Meadow, then went up to Elba Lake (above French Canyon), others went to Elba via Humphrey's Basin/Puppet Pass:
Hutchinson (9,900ish): MAR 7
Piute Pass/Humphreys: 2
Elba (11200ish): 4-5

[windknot]

Raymond Lake from Wet Meadows on June 19-20. The mosquitoes weren't too bad at the lake itself due to some pretty strong winds most of the evening and throughout the night, but the trailhead at Wet Meadows was full of the buggers. Used this interesting eucalyptus-based repellent that worked wonders, the swarms that descended on us when we stepped out of the truck vanished completely within two minutes of spraying the stuff on.

[michaeljf]

Buena Vista Lake (9000') on June 1st was pretty thick with them and I kept the bug juice and netting handy, but they didn't really seem to be biting much. Next night at Ostrander Lake (8500', only a couple of miles away) and there basically weren't any bugs. A little windy there, but not too much. Made for much better camp-relaxing. I expected early June to be much worse.

[Mike McGuire]

Just back from 3 day trip out of Kennedy Meadows west of Sonora Pass. Mosquito level zero (0). There were plenty of bugs evenings on the creek, but they were the good kind like mayflies and caddis flies that make for good fishing.

Mike

[Jack Straw]

Just got back from the 20 Lakes Basin and it was pretty bad on the west side of the loop, especially in the morning. It got so bad we left a day early (forgot mosquito nets). The 3M Ultrathon seemed to work pretty well but I still wound up with 25 or so bites. Friday morning in camp there was 30 or more in your face if you stood still for more than a few seconds. It was as bad as I've seen in a long time. Little bastards !

[Hikin Mike]

Went to Tuolumne Meadows/Tioga Pass area on Friday. Just had no mosquitoes at Siesta Lake, none at Olmsted Point and just a few (3-4 bites) at the trail head of Mt Hoffmann and Dana/Gibbs View. And no...I wasn't hiking to Hoffmann, just checking out the scenery and using the "facilities"!

[maverick]

Just got back from a 6 day trip to the western side of the Ansel
Adams Wilderness.
Never had to use or even think about using deet.