High Sierra Topix

purplebromeliads wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 11:32 pm Wear. Your. DEET. Like. It's. Your. Religion.

Solid first post

Trail into Spanish = 2
Spanish Lake = 2
Trail to Geraldine = 2-4 depending on area.
Geraldine Lake = 2
May 31 was the worst day when hiking out. Warm weather has hatches going on.

Camped 3 nights at Whitney Portal campground and hiked up to Trail Crest/Trail Junction one day then, the next day, went up to Lone Pine Lake and spent several hours by the waterfall there. Bug rating = 1. I saw a few of what looked maybe like small mosquitoes but heard no buzzing; no swarming, no issues. No need for bug spray. My non-scientific opinion is that this will change in the next week or two. Hopefully, with the "season" moved up a month or so due to the drought, the worst of the bugs will be done by early July.

Did a few day hikes with my daughters in 168 country over the weekend. 2-3 in Dinkey Lakes Wilderness 8000-9000 ft and 1-2 east of Courtwright and Wishon.

5/28 Late afternoon McLeod Lake from Horseshoe Lake: 0. Still a solid amount of snow on the ground under the crest and along the west/south sides of the lake
5/29 10am to 1pm Little Lakes Valley to Long lake: 0. Very dry. This place will probably be gnarly soon though after some consistent warm weather.
5/30-31 Backpack Convict Creek to Lake Dorothy: 1 by Convict lake in the morning, 0 the rest of the way to Lake Dorothy. Marshy area south of Mildred lake was really dry, but looks like the kind of place that will be a mosquito warzone soon.

purplebromeliads wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 11:32 pm May 29-31: Sierraville / Tahoe Forest / Gold Lake: 5
...It was the worst in Sierraville and the Tahoe forest near Lake Independence.

Funny, I dayhiked at Sagehen Creek, down the hill from Independence Lake a few miles at 6300 feet elevation, on May 29 and there were zero mosquitoes. Sagehen Creek has been free of snow for at least a month. Maybe that is the difference.

-Phil

Mosquitos are ready to bust out, but only encountered in various locations at different times. I rate a 2. Not so many, not biting so hard.

May 31 - June 1, Rockslides - North Rim - Falls trail

Yosemite Valley: scant 2, a few bites but mostly landing rather than biting.

Rockslides trail and north rim between Old Big Oak Flat and El Cap: 2-3.

North rim between El Cap and the Falls trail: 3-4, particularly bad near Eagle Peak.

Falls trail: 1, few if any.

5/30 - 0
5/31 - 1
6/1 - 2
6/2 - 2

We hiked in on 5/30 and didn't see any mosquitos. On the 31st there were some clouds of bugs (mosquitos? gnats?) but almost no biting. Clouds seemed to be around specific places and they didn't bug us in our campsite.

On the 1st bug activities picked up - we saw a number of termite swarms emerge. We walked over to another lake and there were giant clouds of buzzing insects that looked like mosquitos. But I got no bites.

Back at camp the night of the 1st, there were enough biters that I used bug repellent for the first time this trip. No hordes though and no need for head nets. They didn't bite through my clothes.

Hiking out on the 2nd we saw a bunch of mosquitos and got some bites but not a ton. I'm guessing the hatch has happened and that it will be very buggy for the next bit.

6/1 - Pine creek TH to Honeymoon lake a 1, light breeze may have helped. Lower granite park at dusk: 0
6/2 - Royce Lake basin, french canyon: 0
6/3 - Honeymoon lake a 1 at dusk with a storm building