High Sierra Topix

A group of us packed to Flower Lake for two nights and day hiked to Kearsarge Pass. Lakes - streams all had plenty of water. Still a few spots of snow around Flower and Big Pothole mostly frozen over still. We did not see a single skeeter the entire weekend.

Interesting varied reports. Our experience too was weird. Slept on the ground, no worries for 4 nights--Taboose Creek to the base of Cartridge Pass. Then on our second night at the same mosquito 0 spot in Lake Basin (6/31)-- clouds of the f******s! Still, it was as if they didn't yet know what to do with their proboscises, and were bothersome only to the rate of a 1-2. On our last night (yesterday, 6/2) we donned head-nets in the night to escape them near the top of Taboose Creek. Still just a level 2.

A week ago there were zero even at Florence Lake TH parking. A few in the woods near Muir Trail Ranch and before the climb up to Evolution Valley. Then ones and twos appearing in evening but kept ahead of them with fresh increase in altitude daily. By time left McGee Lakes (elev. 10,800 ft.) Wednesday 6/2 finally a few were appearing in the morning.
With dropping elevation a steady increase but spotty. Dusk at Piute Creek bridge on JMT/PCT about a 2, but same experience as @Harlen with mosquitoes in training school. Were learning fast and by the time was at the S. Fork of San Joaquin bridge had to keep moving…until a small crowd of 6 guys with 70+ pound packs going in attracted them all. Really, they bugged off for them and left me alone! However, the boots off wade across Boulder Creek just after the bridge was worst of the trip. Continual hat as a whisk needed while trying to put socks on again with maybe a dozen settling on me all the time. Mostly no breaks for a rest all the way to Florence. Not bad, but enough to not stop for more than a brief hat waving.
The TH parking lot early evening was same at first then they lost interest!?
I figure by this next week they will have increased a lot at all elevations below about 10,000 to 11,000 ft. if any water nearby. In this region anyhow.

I found very few mosquitos, and only a few bothersome gnats. It was pretty warm and dry in the area around Relief Reservoir.

We camped at Lodgepole and dayhiked to Alta Peak, Pear Lake, and Crescent Meadow from June 1-5. The only mosquitoes or gnats I saw were the ones hanging out at Lodgepole, ironically.

SEKI 6/3-6/6
Lodgepole to Clover Creek - 1-2
Twin Lakes - 3
Between Twin Lakes and Ranger Lake - 4
Ranger Lake to Crescent Lake 3 (not bad when breezy.
Beyond Crescent Lake over the Kings Kaweah Divide - 2-3
Lake 10,559 (upper portion of Marble Fork Kaweah) - 3
Pear Lake - 2-3
Below 8,500 ft to Lodgepole - 1

When I was out, the mosquitoes seemed to be the species that hatch in forests after snow melts, with nothing to do with meadows and other water bodies. Is that what you observed?

6/3 - Cottonwood Lakes walk in trailhead campsite - 2
6/4 - Cottonwood Lakes trail to Lake 5 - 1 (note - lots of gnats at Lake 5, but no mosquitoes)
6/5 - Lake 5 to near the top of Old Army Pass - 1
6/6 - Lake 5 to trailhead - 1

Blackbird Lake 6/2 – 2
Emigrant Lake 6/3 - 3
Buck meadows 6/3 – 3 or 4
Wire lakes 6/4 – 4 when the breeze died down, Huge swarms up in the trees, ominous whine at all times during the day.
Upper relief valley 6/5 – 3
Lower relief valley 6/5 – 2
In general they got worse as we went along, coming out down summit creek there were some where there were none on the way in. Very wet everywhere, swampy in all the meadows, I think we hit the start of the serious action, I would expect it will be bad for a while.

in general: not bad in the 7k's; very bad in the 8k's. this was sort of the inverse of what i expected, but i have a lot to learn on early season sierra mosquito dodging.

i'm not sure if it was our imagination, but they seemed to get notably worse over our three days, like they were just now downloading the full mosquito instruction manual.

crabtree > chewing gum: 0-1
granite lake: 3
tom's canyon: 1
toejam & leopold lakes: 3