Mt Jefferson Wilderness bug report?

General discussions on hiking in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest
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poppacouch
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Joined: May 24th, 2019, 1:47 pm
Location: Beaverton, OR

Mt Jefferson Wilderness bug report?

Post by poppacouch » June 15th, 2020, 6:00 pm

Anyone been to Duffy or Marion lake recently or know what to expect this coming weekend wrt mosquitoes?
Weather is looking great! Like to get my kids out for a fun early trip.

johnspeth
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Joined: July 30th, 2013, 8:33 am

Re: Mt Jefferson Wilderness bug report?

Post by johnspeth » June 15th, 2020, 7:17 pm

I was at Marion Lake a week ago Monday. It was in the 40/50 deg range and mostly cloudy all day with little wind. I didn't notice any mosquitoes except at the end of the day near the trailhead. There was no snow except new snow in the surrounding hills, probably all melted by now.

Be careful of logging happening right on the road. You might find extra debris and unexpected mud. Machine operators will allow you to pass by making room. Probably not a problem on weekends.

jeannette
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Re: Mt Jefferson Wilderness bug report?

Post by jeannette » June 21st, 2020, 5:00 pm

I understand the mosquitoes are horrible Fish Lake and for the next 200 miles going North. Is that pretty accurate? What time of the summer are they the worst?

Aimless
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Location: Lake Oswego

Re: Mt Jefferson Wilderness bug report?

Post by Aimless » June 21st, 2020, 5:15 pm

jeannette wrote:
June 21st, 2020, 5:00 pm
I understand the mosquitoes are horrible Fish Lake and for the next 200 miles going North. Is that pretty accurate? What time of the summer are they the worst?
That's correct, at least in my experience of that stretch of the PCT/Cascade Crest.

The worst time varies depending on the stage of the snowmelt more than on the calendar. Mosquitoes tend to be at their worst starting when the ground is about 90% bare and they continue very bad for about another 14 to 21 days from that point. Different local areas reach maximum mosquitoes on their own timetable, as the snow melts off each locality at different times. As a general rule of thumb, July is bad news bugwise.

jeannette
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Joined: March 28th, 2019, 6:12 pm

Re: Mt Jefferson Wilderness bug report?

Post by jeannette » June 21st, 2020, 6:14 pm

Wow! Ok Something I can look forward to then(Ugh!)

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poppacouch
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Marion Lake Re: Mt Jefferson Wilderness bug report?

Post by poppacouch » June 23rd, 2020, 9:18 pm

Made it to Marion Lake last weekend 6/20/20. I can confirm mosquitoes were out. Few of my kids were covered in bites but they are not very good about bug spray... I escaped with only a couple bites. Weather was cool but family had a great time!
Fish were being caught effortlessly. My kids caught several, while I talked with several groups that came up just to fish, many with floats/rafts, and limited out within an hour or two!
Marion Falls is really worth seeing. Hasn’t even heard of it before but getting to see the double cascade with a lot of water was really beautiful.
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