Bugs

Is there anywhere in the Northwest where the bugs aren't absolutely miserable right now? From British Columbia to Snoqualmie Pass to the Olympic Peninsula, I haven't been able to get away from them since June. I'd love to get into the mountains this weekend (to climb if not ski) but I'm not certain I have enough blood left to survive another vampire assault from the skeeters. Any suggestions?

I always keep one outer layer of clothing treated with PERM
ETHRIN every summer. You can by a kit at a hunting shop, maybe even REI. It is same thing we used on camis for the Marines when we deployed to SE Asia.

The treatment is good for about six weeks and six washings. Important to keep mosquitos from biting at places where your body tents your clothing - shoulders, hips, elbows.

In my experience, July usually is the worst month in most mountain areas of the NW for bugs, as the snow melt of June makes the soil nice and moist.  We were in the Wallowas a week ago, and they weren't bad in the drainage we went up (E. Fork Eagle Creek), which I think is due to the fact that it is south-facing (so the snow melted earlier), and it doesn't have much flat, boggy area.  People we saw up around Eagle Cap said the Lakes Basin was pretty thick with them, though.

I'd guess that the bulk of them will be disappearing as the soil dries, with the exception of areas that are boggy and wet year-round.  Of course, once the mosquitoes leave, then we have to start thinking about forest fires... 

They weren't bad at all in the hills around exit 38 this weekend, so they might be thinning. The black fly hatch was last week/the week before, so they're probably dying off by now.

We found no bug issues in the Teanaway area yesterday, and folks who had camped in Bean Creek Basin all weekend also said they were not being hassled by bugs. Reports on nwhikers.net suggest similar stories from at least a few other points across the range.

I thought this was a trip report from the Bugaboos.....not really.

I found horrible bugs below 6500' at Spray Park during the hot spell. But even then they didn't come out until mid morning and weren't too bad in the evening near dusk and above 6500'. Since then I've been out a couple of times including Vesper last Thursday and didn't find that many bugs at all. Probably with the rain this week and cool temperatures some of them will die of old age before the next hatch arrives.

I think that south aspects help and that an early start, stay high, and a late return to the TH makes the bugs a very minor problem. Last year they seemed to stay around most of the summer with the frequent rains.