High Sierra Topix

North Fork of American River - Forest Hill Divide (5200)- some small annoying flies, no mosquitoes, river level, north slope terrace (2,000) -a few at dusk-- a dozen or so tiny baby skeets clinging to my tent screen.

Carson Pass, Wolf Creek (Carson Iceberg Wilderness) and Ebbetts Pass had no mosquitos.

Camping at 8000 feet around Parker Lake between Lee Vining and June Lakes. No mosquitos. Though a lot more bugs were around on Sunday morning compared to the previous few days. I saw what looked to be some juvenille mosquitos, though never did hear that familiar whizzing sound. I fear they are just around the corner.

Yosemite Valley: Very mild.

Yosemite Falls trail: mild, not in need of any special protection.

Hetch Hetchy to Wapama Falls: None

Rock Creek 9300 ft. - June 10th weekend. Very few mosquitoes in the shade in the evenings (1) none during the day. Hiked to 10,500 with considerable snow but no skeeters at all.

First mosquitoes of the season for me: a few in the forested areas from Horseshoe Meadow to about 10,500. Monday and today (a.m.) were warm, so they will probably explode soon. Nothing above 10,500 but snow.

quentinc wrote:First mosquitoes of the season for me: a few in the forested areas from Horseshoe Meadow to about 10,500. Monday and today (a.m.) were warm, so they will probably explode soon. Nothing above 10,500 but snow.

How was the snow ? Thick and icy ? soft ?

Night of June 10 along Mather Road (lots of spur roads for dispersed camping) at about 4k, squeets did not waste time zeroing in on me after I parked. Not alot but enough that after opening my doors about 10 minutes with lights off to move gear around, there were a half dozen inside I later had to squash. Ditto next morning at dawn before leaving. Rest of the morning in the Cherry Creek basin at 2k to 5.5k a day of high clouds and little breeze had very few visit. Most of the time was in a t-shirt. Then in the afternoon was in Yosemite about Foresta at 5k and saw none.

Finally at dusk drove out of the park down SR140 and stopped at Briceberg at 1400 feet one of my favorite spots for a stealthy day ending dip. Bear Creek from the Midpines area confluences under the bridge. There is a daytime rec spot at the BLM information station there, (often a rafting take out) but it is always empty late in the day. The water in Bear Creek is always less chilly than the main Merced and measured a cool 58F degrees which is much like summertime ocean temps down at our Santa Cruz beach. The area directly under the bridge is great because it is smooth bedrock, just knee deep, is hidden and cannot be seen from the highway or the rec area parking lot. I really needed it as all day I had been rolling all over the ground working wildflower closeups including several hundred feet of sweaty climbing. Well despite my sweetly ripe smell, not a single mosquito visited so I was able to air dry in peace as vehicles frequently passed over above unseen. Oh I did almost step on a small California king snake walking down the bank.

David

Thursday= (level 1) on Evergreen Road, Yosemite- 9PM
Fri-Sun= (level 1) North Rim traverse- Yosemite Valley up Snow Creek, down Yosemite Falls. Only a few at stream crossings. None on dry sandy ridges. A few more in the Valley at Sentinal beach. Windy conditions AM and mild breeze PM may have helped.

Hmmm, here goes...

This past Friday night (late), Evergreen Road, Yosemite ... a skeeter or two but hardly anything
Saturday during the day ... Tioga Rd, various spots ... none whatsoever
Saturday, mid day thru nightfall, eastern Sierra between Mono Lake & Grant Lake, elevations from ~6500 to ~8500 ft ... zero
Sunday, mid day thru mid afternoon, June Lake Loop, none at Grant Lake, moderate at Silver Lake & June Lake ... small clouds of them as I opened the vehicle door.
Late Sunday and into the evening ... Mono Lake, Virginia Lakes (TH), and up thru Sonora Pass ... none at all.

Sorry, I saw the post about people posting skeeter reports and no TRs ... but this was an overnight trip but just day-trip activities during the day, no backpacking, not the stuff HST TRs are made of. But I figured the skeeter reports might be helpful anyway ...