2022 Mosquito Reports

[Solace-seeker]

Bishop Pass Trail to Ducy basin from
July 11,2022 - July 15,2022. The mosquitoes were relentless. Definitely level 4. It made a lot of my adventure in the Sierra very unpleasant almost unbearable.

[AaronRDavis]

1-2 from Kennedy Meadows to Iceland Lake. Enough at dusk to wear a headnet. Wore permethrin treated clothes as well. A steady breeze most of the day may have helped. They did not negatively affect the trip at all.

[c9h13no3]

Wildflowers & mosquitoes are highly correlated. The wildflowers were very abundant... and so were the mosquitoes. Forni Lake & Lake #3 weren't so bad, but as usual, forested swampy areas were ridiculous.

[SSSdave]

In vegetation near lake, stream areas, and seep meadows, mosquitoes 2 or 3 depending on the amount of wind exposure and time of day. Early or late in day and evenings, when dragonflies and damselflies are inactive, modest numbers of mosquitoes and all trip, I fully clothed used just a small amount of DEET on hands and face. In afternoon with breezes, few active mosquitoes even in most of these open wet areas like lake shores. But even then, drop back several feet into breeze shielded forest and that is where the blood suckers are hunkered down with some likely to become active if you visit near enough to smell your CO2 breathing.

In the much greater dry areas of lodgepole pine, white bark pine, and sagebrush, few if any mosquitoes without much need for clothing protection or DEET.

Hilton Lakes are heavily used by horse packers so given their trail manure droppings, there are a lot of houseflies in the basin and many tend to be aggressive at all sunny hours of the day...especially at meal times when they smell our food.

[Love the Sierra]

Long meadow 3
Post Coral Meadow 3
Fleming Lake 2
Rae Lake 2
Disappointment Lake 2-3
Meadow Brook 3
Kings River 1

[kpeter]

During the entire trip I never encountered anything more than a 1 except in a single odd trailside location. Winds kept the handful of mosquitoes I did see away.

Pioneer Basin 1
Fourth Recess Lake 1
Mono Pass 0

[Rockyroad]

Entire trip was mostly 0. I occasionally saw a few non-aggressive ones. Even when it was not windy, mosquitoes were a non-factor. And I do not use any insect repellent. What a difference a week makes.

[Carne_DelMuerto]

Almost all areas were a 0 or 1. Only spots worth mentioning:

• Confluence of French Creek and Piute Creek (below Hutchinson Meadow): 3 (really bad after dusk)
• Not mosquitos, but the black flys on the shore of Wanda Lake were awful.

Otherwise a fairly bug-free trip. Never used DEET.

[windknot]

Everywhere was a 0 except Lake Virginia, where mosquitoes were a 1 during the afternoon and moving to a 2 in the evening/dusk and morning. Not nearly as bad as expected.

[jfr]

Little Lakes Valley, Ruby Lake = 2
Mono Pass, Fourth Recess = 1
Mono Creek to the JMT = 2
Bear Creek on the JMT = 2
Marie Lake = 1
Senger Creek on the JMT = 2
JMT at Piute Creek & SF San Joaquin River = 2
Piute Creek near Hutchinson Meadow = 4 (almost a 5 in the grassy forest between 9k and 10k!)
Lower Golden Trout Lake = 0 No Bugs!
Piute Pass to North Lake = 2


Except for Piute Creek near French Canyon (which was surely the epicenter of all Sierra Mosquitodom!) the bugs were tolerable with DEET. They were mostly present at dawn and dusk, then fading after 10am.

But along the JMT during the hot noon hours the FLIES were out in force! They were almost as annoying as the mosquitoes, and DEET did nothing to stop them from landing on you. The only saving grace was that they didn't bite (at least not me, although the bigger ones bit my wife). The net effect was that there were bugs in your face all day long.

Definitely the High Sierra in July, but less horrible than other years.