lonehiker wrote:Sunday July 25th they were brutal. I won't forget the DEET again.

Where were you at?

Sorry I put the location in the title. My bad. I was climbing Castle Peak. They were the worst on the approach from the forest service road to Castle Pass but still very bad above that point almost to the summit.

A petition should start to get DDT back on the market.

The 100% Jungle Juice from REI worked perfectly on last weeks trip into cottonwood lakes basin. The skeeters were definitely present but we were fine as long as we kept the deet on. Bottom of NAP and up to Langley was obviously free and clear, but Long Lake definitely had a lot of mosquitoes.

They were just terrible above Devil's Bathtub on Sunday. Deet just barely kept them in check and I was breathing them in they were so thick.

I spent four days in the Rae Lakes/Sixty Lake Basin area two weeks ago and they were terrible! Started out with about 3/4 of a small DEET bottle, and came back with none... Funny though, how they will be swarming in one area, go around the corner and they'll hardly be present!

Rock Creek zone near the appropriately named Mosquito Flat Trailhead was VERY bad on Monday, especially at dawn. Bring that bug spray!!!

5 days in SEKI report...

They were barley there in Giant Forest, Moro Rock and other southern areas.

Down in the Kings Canyon they were around more for sure. 5 out of 10 in badness

Out near roads end, on Bubbs Creek Trail not too bad

Sphinx Creek Trail up to Avy Pass- Bad near creek crossings and marshes the further you get out. 7, 8 out of 10 in badness

In 5 days I got bit prob 30 times...not that bad IMO...I used the REI jungle Juice too, works fine when i wore it.

I got bit 40 times easy in Coldwater Canyon at about 10k last weekend. Strange though as you could find places where they would not bite you, and others where they swarmed. No Deet though, some other type that seemed to only deter them for 10 minutes. got some 98% last night

anyone been to Humphreys lately??

yeah, the mosquitos were terrible in Rock Creek Canyon last week

Not impossible up in Humphreys Basin last weekend. I did use some DEET.

Scott M. wrote:Not impossible up in Humphreys Basin last weekend. I did use some DEET.

Where did you camp?? Just trying to figure what elevation would be good. Thanks much for chiming in.

August 25th ish, how will the skeeters be?



[yes I know it is an impossible question to answer]

Fluxlib,
I day hiked/climbed Pilot Knob so did not camp. The area around Desolation Lake wasn't too bad, though. We took a little snack break there and weren't eaten alive. Some folks were camped on the bench just south of the lake and seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Scott

We did Pyramid is Desolation on Friday the 23rd and at Lake Sylvia they were brutal. After summiting the return along the Lyons Lake Trail was very bad. Only a very fast walk kept most of them away.