Oregon Hikers

Did the Hood River Meadows Loop Counterclockwise from the Elk Meadows TH. Relatively bug free with two exceptions. About half way up the Newton Creek Trail, a bit before you hit the slightly steeper switchbacks, mosquitoes were suddenly terrible. We're talking a cloud of at least 20 around both of us, even after we Offed ourselves. Thankfully, this was only maybe a .25-.5 mile section of the loop.

Second was we took a short break at Umbrella Falls and were fighting of flies in about the same quantity. Stop for a picture or two, but don't recommend using it as a lunch point or anything

Don't see if someone mentioned Goat Rocks, but last weekend mosquitoes were noticeable. Not too bad, but I used head net and bug spray in camp. Mosquitoes increased in numbers over 3 days, so I guess it wasn't past peak season yet.

Snow, OTOH, is mostly gone (more like end of August) and if you're into wildflowers they are getting pretty good already, and will be best probably for the next 2-3 weeks.

I drove a big loop in GPNF last Saturday.

Little Lookout Mountain had big black horseflies. They are in abundance on all the high ridges in that area according to my coworker.

Zig Zag lake, horseflies at the trailhead, assorted bugs on the way down. Mosquitoes at the lake, but they didn't bite me as much as I expected. Lots of them landed on me, but I don't have bites everywhere they landed. I wasn't using DEET or other gunk. There were yellowjackets out looking for food, but they minded their own business.

West Crater, the fewest bugs of the day, though still present. Bugs disappeared at the summit, probably due to the breeze. There were yellowjackets there, too.

I camped at a beautiful spot just a bit west of the PCT crossing on Trout Creek. There, too someone had brushed things out recently. The bugs were tolerable enough that I left my arm hanging out of my bivy. It gained a few more mosquito bites over night.

gallione11 wrote: ↑

July 24th, 2021, 2:12 pm

we Offed ourselves.

That seems a bit extreme.

Near Wind/Dog mountains Sept 1: Mosquitoes weren't dense and aggressive, but there were more than I was hoping for, and more than I've seen anywhere in a few weeks.

Southern Oregon ... went into the Blue Canyon Basin in Sky Lakes Wilderness last weekend. The yellowjackets around Medford are epic this year. In the basin we saw no mosquitoes and very few yellowjackets .. didn't even bother us when we were eating. On the hike back out via Blue Canyon Lake trail, we didn't see any bugs 'til we got to the lake level. From there to the ridgeline and back out via Cat Hill Way the yellowjackets were thick.

The trails are a bit rough .. could use a little brush-out work. The main trails didn't seem to have any logs to deal with. The Blue Canyon Lake trail was a different story. Someone had worked a lot on it up to lake level .. and stopped. From there on up it was log hopping and plowing through shin high huckleberry. Cat Hill Way had even more logs but a little less ground level scrub.

Just did the Matthieu Lakes loop from Lava Camp TH yesterday. Absolutely zero bugs whatsoever.

two weekends in a row i have been attacked and gotten bites at divide camp TH on Mt. Adams. Though they were gentle mozzies, just occasional, and kept off by the simple breeze of hiking or a gentle forest sway, they still got a few bites in on me while prepping at the car. go figure.. last year in mid August same place it was for sure 0.

I would not want to cowboy camp at that TH for instance.