Re: mosquito season??

Hello again,

I was wondering when does mosquito season start??

Right about now. As soon as puddles of stagnant water form, the eggs start hatching and the mosquitoes start mating. Last year it wasn't bad in the Valley, but I still got bitten several times in the high country.

http://www.yosemitepark.com/yosemite-wildlife.aspx
http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/clips2005/july/071805.htm

Apparently mosquitoes prefer to bite in the evening or morning when it's cooler. Still didn't stop me from getting bitten multiple times during the afternoon in Florida.

So two Yosemite mosquitoes found a hiker, and one bit him, which knocked the guy out from blood loss. The first mosquito said "I know, let's carry him up to the high country and finish him off". The second mosquito said "No, if we take him up there, the big guys will get him."

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Gary
Yosemite Photo Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/yo

I'm VERY aware of mosquitos. Living in Ontario and hiking in our provinical parks the mosquitos in late May, early June are INSANE!!! My friends and I have Mesh bug suits to keep them at bay, but any exposed flesh will literally have mosquitos fighting over it!!! What are the Yosemite Bugs like in Early June???

Yosemitebound wrote:

> I'm VERY aware of mosquitos. Living in Ontario and hiking in
> our provinical parks the mosquitos in late May, early June are
> INSANE!!! My friends and I have Mesh bug suits to keep them at
> bay, but any exposed flesh will literally have mosquitos
> fighting over it!!! What are the Yosemite Bugs like in Early
> June???

They're about as bad as anywhere in California. Maybe not as bad as Alaska (where I hear they have a very short season to breed and a super aggressive nature seems to be a genetic trait) or the Everglades (with ample stagnant pools).

If you come during this summer, I think the mosquito situation will be back to normal. Last year was unusually low in mosquito count due to low water levels/snow runoff. You'll probably get bitten even if you use repellent. If you've got a mesh suit, definitely bring it. Certainly the hordes of people with red welts won't be laughing at you.

I think that due to the really low count last year that there will be fewer this year also. It might take one more year before they are up to normal. Last year there just weren't any in the high country. OK maybe a few. I don't remember needing and DEET last year.

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Old Dude

mrcondron wrote:

> I think that due to the really low count last year that there
> will be fewer this year also. It might take one more year
> before they are up to normal. Last year there just weren't any
> in the high country. OK maybe a few. I don't remember needing
> and DEET last year.

Well - I got bitten several times even when it wasn't supposed to be a heavy mosquito year. I'll be taking a Benadryl stick with me this summer, although the cream worked well when I got bitten in Key Biscayne the year before.

I'm using Picaridin/Icaridin. Got a bunch on sale at the end of last summer. It's sold as either Cutter Advanced or Off Family (formely Skintastic) Clean Feel. It doesn't have much of an odor, isn't sticky/oily, and doesn't dissolve plastics. I've heard of many people who have used DEET only to have some spill and/or ruin polyester clothing or ABS plastics. Nylon supposedly has no problem with DEET.