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2017 Mosquito Reports

Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 12:37 pm
by ERIC
New year, new log for what will likely be a very active mosquito year in the Sierra...
mossy.jpg
From maverick's original post a few years ago:
maverick wrote:
1 - No mosquitoes or if there are some, but not biting yet (Blue)
2 - Very light during the day, moderate at dawn and dusk (Green)
3 - Moderate during the day, heavy at dawn and dusk (Yellow)
4 - Heavy during the day, heavy at dawn and dusk (Orange)
5 - Unbearable all day, no breaks, cannot eat outside of tent. If you stop, hundreds
will descend on you; when looking thru a camera viewfinder, you see more skeeters than
lake. If you slapped your arm, you'd smear blood from all the dead gorged bodies (Red)

Please do not post questions or ask about a particular area in this thread. Thanks

Merced River 4/18

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:06 pm
by SSSdave
Got bit for first time this year Tuesday April 18 on back of hand along Merced River west of the the one way traffic avalanche section while standing beside highway in a shaded area photographing some Pacific sedum. Some tiny ones were about. Became itchy too.

There is going to be a great amount of water standing on Sierra mid and upper forest landscapes this summer during the snow pack melt phase dammed up by shadowed snow beneath trees that will take much longer in those forest areas to melt down. Mosquitoes will make life miserable for forest deer, bear, marmots, pikas, squirrels, mice, etc but in any case will much prefer sweaty smelly humans wearing shorts, t-shirts, and a baseball cap. Mosquitoes will breed in those still waters repeatedly in cycles of increasing numbers before the standing water finally seeps away. Then they will fly up in whining circling mini tornadoes to your favorite lake destinations at timberline elevations.

David :eek:

Hogdon Meadow 5/8-5/10

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 3:24 pm
by mkbgdns
5/8-10. Hogdon Meadow, Yosemite Valley, 0.

Calaveras 5/13-5/14

Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 11:28 pm
by Nighthawk
5/13-14, Calaveras Big Trees, 0

At two low elevation locations near Mt. Diablo in the last two weeks I've seen large swarms, but none biting.

Re: 2017 Mosquito Reports

Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 2:46 am
by scap
I know technically the cascades but mt lassen area was a 2 from Hat Valley all the way up to thousand lakes.

Roads End / Zumwalt 5/28

Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 12:53 pm
by Flamingo
In SEKI National Park on Sunday May 28th 2017. . . Mosquitos were a Level 2 at Roads End and Zumwalt Meadow. I counted five bites on my shoulder and neck in the afternoon.

Re: 2017 Mosquito Reports

Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 2:18 am
by gary c.
Memorial weekend in the Domeland Wilderness. Slightly above a 2 but they didn't seem to be biting. With out spray I made it home just a couple bites.

May 31-June 4 Yosemite.

Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 6:00 pm
by Wandering Daisy
May 31-June 4 Yosemite.

overall 1+ just a few at dawn and dusk, EXCEPT in moist places (such as Echo Valley), and campgrounds: Camp 4 and Little Yosemite Valley (2). Skeets seem to know where people are! More of a problem are those little biting flies. No need for spray, if you stay covered when in camp and keep moving on the trail.

By the way, I ran into a little rattlesnake just above Lost Valley. It rattled and then coiled up on a rock next to the trail.

6/2 - 6/4 Horseshoe Meadow over Trail Pass to Mulkey Meadow

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:44 am
by Pearl
6/2 Horseshoe Meadow at 9,500ft 3
6/3 Trail Pass at 10,500ft 2
6/3 and 6/4 Mulkey Meadow at 9,500 ft 3

Hiked in late in the afternoon. Horseshoe Meadow is a bog right now. Lots of snowmelt. I immediately got bit through my shirt about 15 times all over my shoulders. They even bit through my pants. Used Natrapel (20% Picardin) and that did the trick. Applied on face and backs of hand. Covered up with wind shirt. Sprayed Natrapel under the brim of my hat and that kept them from swarming my face. In the evening we went into the tent to escape the mosquitoes when they were at their worst.

Cherry Lake-Styx Pass 6/13-6/19

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 10:33 pm
by SSSdave
June 13>19 backpacked from Cherry Lake reservoir at 4700 feet up Kibbie Ridge Trail to Styx Pass at 7650 feet and Cherry Creek below. Seeps from ridge still draining in streams along the reservoir east shore and that is where a few mosquitoes appeared. Also along the Kibbie Ridge Trail up to about 6800 feet that is mostly dry burned forest without any mosquitoes, are small streams and boggy areas where mosquitoes are about especially early and late that I'd rate a 2 while the rest of the day a 1+. Above 6800 saw no mosquitoes. In fact on 4 nights at the higher areas, left my tent mosquito net door open all night without any visits.

The days before I started my trip, the coldest June storm in several years came across the Sierra bringing snow down below 6k elevations. As I've noticed in the past, that can kill most of them. And wigglers in pools will also die from suffocation if a pond surface freezes. The snow line was about 7.3k with lots of snow by 7.7k along with water water everywhere so there was no other reason for the absence of mosquitoes. That effect will be more apparent in the Central and Northern Sierra regions where that weather was stronger and less further south. One can predict that for the near term weeks, we backpackers have a rare late June into early July opportunity to backpack in many mid elevation forest Sierra Nevada areas without the usual early season plague. Beyond early July increasing new generations in the brief mosquito life cycle may appear.

David


David