Mosquitoes in Full Force in the T Meadows Back Country

[Grzldvt]

The mosquitoes are in full force and very heavy in the back country. We were in the May Lake area and they apparently missed the memo that Deet was effective deterrent. It was nuts. It was not unusual to have 15-20 mosquitoes hovering in your face after putting on fresh deet. The slightly good news is any breeze that came up seem to push them away and as always they did disappear once it got cold.
Talked to a park supervisor working on the May Lake HS Camp and he told us last week there were no critters, this week they are out in full force.

[orion]

Especially around 8-9000'. I was on the other side of Mt. Hoffman this week, and it was a blend of both species, the morning/evening ones, and the all day ones. You will want to bring a tent to crawl into occaisionally for sanity, and plan to camp in the breeziest spots. The snowline looks like mid september last year, so I suppose they'll be gone soon enough.

[redpakotasea]

I'm heading up to the TM and Young Lakes areas on Friday (6/22) for 6 nights. Also likely spending a night on North Dome. Are the skeeters so bad that I should consider investing in one of these fashionable accessories? And any opinions on treating clothes with permethrin? I'm planning to bring DEET, but wondering if additional measures are warranted.

[QITNL]

Haha - that's my favorite hat, I wear it every season but winter. I like it so much I cut the netting out of it, it's kinda annoying. Been through a few of them over the years. Fits under a helmet, too. Fashionable? Very!

Don't know about the skeeters but I'll find out Friday as well.

[Grzldvt]

Based on where we were, yes it would have been helpful to have those fashionable accessories.

[lahiker]

Any recent updates on mosquitoes at Young Lakes? and on the way to Conness?

[AlmostThere]

I never expect "recent updates" to be any help - I was told by a lady coming out as we were hiking in at a trailhead "THE MOSQUITOES WERE BIBLICAL!!!!!!" We saw... two. (I wonder what Bible she uses?)

You can expect mosquitoes all over the place, in some amount, until late July at the earliest. Perhaps because it is a dry year they will be less oppressive than usual, but there will be some.

[bill-e-g]

Same can be said for trail conditions

[sintax]

Not too sure what to expect, but we are heading out on our 3 day on this up coming monday. Hope its not too bad. We are leaving from Sunrise Lakes and heading down into the Valley.

[redpakotasea]

Mosquitoes weren't bad in Tuolumne Meadows, North Dome, or Glen Aulin areas, but the Young Lakes population was of epic proportions. Below is rougly a 6"x10" area in the corner of my tent on 6/26.





They were pretty bad near the lakes, so we set up camp in the driest area we could find, which was above the second lake to the east, close to the ridge. To be honest, they really weren't all that bad around our campsite the first night...the steady breeze may have helped. The pics above were taken the second night. Despite freezing overnight temps, they were out in full force on 6/26 and 6/27. Thank god I had my bug bucket and plenty of DEET. I hiked up to Conness during the day, and they weren't too bad as long as we kept moving...they were non-existent after the marshy areas. Two of our camp stayed back and stayed in their tent pretty much all day...we ended up cutting our trip a day short due to the bloodsuckers.