Oregon Hikers

We started at the Ape Canyon trailhead at about 7:30 with a temp of about 63 degrees. Sky was very clear with only a little haze. We were the only car at the trailhead.
The trail is in really good condition. We came out from the woods to Ape Canyon at about 10:00. We walked the additional distance up to the plains of Abraham. The light breeze and open space kept bugs at bay. The views were pretty spectacular. We saw no mountain goats or elk. There were some flowers blooming.
The lahar flow and the notch at the top of the mountain where it originated amazes me each time it see it.

The black flies were the only irritant. We sprayed with deet. But they still landed on us. On the way down the trail, we encountered a mountain biker that stopped and had at least 20 flies on his legs. He was desperate and asked if we has bug spray. So we doused him and sent him on his way. We talked about doing an experiment next time black flies were an issue. We would spray one arm and one leg but not the other and check the results!

We got back to the trailhead at about 12:20. Tried to walk faster to avoid the flies. Temp was in the 80s by this time.

It was a great hike even with the flies and the heat.

More photos.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ar4h1PzagHlGrCSWYjO ... 4?e=f4Wb6n

In my experience flies don’t care about deet. And that’s the value of wearing pants.

leiavoia wrote: ↑

July 29th, 2022, 6:53 am

In my experience flies don’t care about deet. And that’s the value of wearing pants.

I bet Chip would 2nd that….
However, the mountain biker I mentioned, said when coming down the hill said that the deet worked for him.
Another mountain biker was clothed from head to toe, including gloves. I bet he had no issues except to his face.
I tend to get too warm with long sleeves….
We survived and I could not find any places that I felt like I got a bad bite!

It's odd about Mt. St. Helens and flies. I rarely run into more than one or two on a hike anywhere else, but I've often been swarmed by them on MSH trails. I hiked the Blue Lake trail and on to the Loowit trail to Ape Canyon with my daughter about 25 years ago and we had to run to get away from them and even that didn't completely deter them. They were at their worst in the forest, but some bothered us even in the open areas. It wouldn't be so bad but those flies bite and draw blood!

That's changed recently! I was up there a couple weeks ago and didn't have any issues with flies, besides a few flying about. :/

I just camped at the Blue Lake trailhead and was tormented by flies. I only heard one or two mosquito but until the sun started to go down there were flies, particularly deer flies, everywhere. Picaridin kept most of them off of me but the buzzing was incessant.