High Sierra Topix

7/27 Onion Valley Campground and Robinson Lake 3
7/28 Flower Lake 3
7/29 Kearsarge Pass to small tarn south of Glen Pass 2
7/30 Glen Pass 1 (breezy) to Lower Rae Lake 4
7/31 Rae Lake to 60 Lakes Trail 3
8/1 Rae Lake to Dragon Lake 3
8/2 Glen Pass to Kearsarge Lakes 1 (breezy)
8/3 Kearsarge Lakes to Onion Valley 2

Anyone been in the Garnet Lake, 1000 Island Lake area; even Agnew Meadow. I'm guessing the bugs are running a bit behind other areas? thanks!

7/29 - Vidette Meadow - 3 (people were filtering water w/ bug nets at 4pm)
7/30 - 31 - Milestone Basin & Upper Kern - 4/5 (hiked with bug net along upper kern, hide in tent immediately after dinner)
8/1 - Tyndal Creek to Shepherd Pass - 0
8/2 - Meadow below North side of Forester Pass - 2 & Center Basin dayhike - 2
8/3 -4 - Kearsarge Lakes - 2

Hearsay
I heard that Crabtree was "horrible"
Below Shepherd Pass, the pothole was "horrible" but Anvil Camp was "not bad"

Pine creek > pine lake > honeymoon = 1
Granite park middle lakes = 2
Golden lake = 2/3

not nearly as bad as I was expecting going in.

I hiked Sonora to Carson about a week ago and for all six days I was out the mosquitoes were a 1. It was awesome!

8/4 Agnew to Nydiver Lakes: 0 or 1 everywhere due to wind
8/5 Nydiver to Thousand Island: 0 to 2 depending on wind. others reported 4 at thousand island but they must have chosen their camps poorly (in woods)
8/6 Thousand Island to McClure Creek drainage: 1 to 2 depending on wind
8/7 McClure Creek to Townsley Lake: 0 to 1 depending on wind, probably 3 if you sat in the woods around Fletcher Lake
8/8 Townsley to Tuolumne via Johnson / Elisabeth: 0 to 1 depending on wind

Mainly I had good luck of having plenty of wind and also the wisdom to choose more exposed campsites. I tend to hike on and along and then take breaks at tops of passes rather than in the woods so my numbers may be skewed by this.

Brought Deet, never used it. Lovely rugged cross-country hiking alpine lakes, creeks, cascades and waterfalls, pooling through glacier smoothed shoulders and limbs of sparkling granite, and fed by high banks of late season snow. Mosquitoes were a 2 at dusk and dawn at Ropi, Toem, Desolation lakes, basically away from forested areas. We went in Pyramid Creek, along Horsetail Falls, camped around Ropi, and day-hiked for two days. I last hiked this in 1995, and the route was less distinct and more brushy than I remembered. We decided not to down-climb the falls, and instead exited Echo Lake. On the way out we had to walk fast through Lake of the Woods' basin late morning 8/5 and mosquitoes a 4. Thanks Branko Bibic for the ride back to our car. Photo below from Desolation Wilderness Ranger station in Camino:

Maia, Thanks for the heads up; I'm pleasantly surprised!

DJ: that says it all! I too have fantasized about getting a lift from the millions of mosquitos parked on every square micron. cameron

Red Mountain Basin August 4-9.

Early in the week (August 4-5) mosquitoes varied depending on elevation and dampness from 2-5. Later in the week, after several sunny dry days, they diminished to a 1-2. People we met exiting the area on August 2 reported horrible conditions, but we seemed to be at a turning point and by the end of the week we encountered long stretches of day without a mosquito in sight.

Specifically, the worst mosquitoes were at Fleming Lake (4) and Hell for Sure Lake (4) where we used deet and headnets, but by the time we were at Devil's Punchbowl later in the week they were down to a 1. Disappointment Lake was probably a 2. Blackrock, Horseshoe, and Big Shot we visited during the day and they were a 1 at the time we visiting.

8/5 - 9 Muriel Lake 2

Reports from other hikers indicated other lakes in the area were more like a 3 or 4. People who spent time at a few of them were surprised how light they were at Muriel.