bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

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Scott P
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by Scott P »

Anyway, as a rule of thumb, if you are somewhere with lakes in Colorado in late June through mid July, expect mosquitoes. Away from the areas with lakes they usually aren't so bad with the exception of along some rivers (mosquito season along rivers starts and ends later than the areas around lakes). Mosquito population around lakes generally starts to decrease in mid July (except in heavy snow years) and by mid August there usually aren't as many. In the high country by September there are usually gone completely (though in the Wind Rivers they last into September in many areas).
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by Scott P »

nmjameswilson wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 9:44 am September of last year South Colony Lakes was fine for everything ... sounds like I might have just been lucky.

I hear Lake Como if terrible.
They are almost always gone in the high country of Colorado by September, regardless of the location.
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by Chicago Transplant »

jsf80238 wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 8:39 am How about the Sangre de Cristo mountains near Crestone say, picking a random date, today?
What could I expect?
Funny you should ask! June 20, 2015 they were awful there. I think that may be my personal "worst I have ever seen" for mosquitos in the west. We had to take off our boots for a barefoot creek crossing, I counted about 8-10 bites per foot on the tops of my feet when I got home later from a 2 minute creek crossing. My shoulders looked like I had chicken pox. Luckily the pack covered the rest of my back!

The crazy thing was they were bad camped on the road the night before and pretty much all the way to treeline we still were finding them. I had never seen such a vertical range of them that bad before.
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by Jenna N S »

So this might not exactly what you are asking, but I'll share my 2 cents anyways as someone who is prone to get ALL the mosquito bites...

If anyone in your party is one of those people that tends to attract all the mosquitoes, bring something to protect them. It doesn't matter where I go, if I'm camping in Colorado in the summer, I get bit. Without fail. My SO or anyone else I'm will usually walks away with nothing or only a bite or 2, but I will be covered in bites.
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by teamdonkey »

Jenna N S wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 10:06 am So this might not exactly what you are asking, but I'll share my 2 cents anyways as someone who is prone to get ALL the mosquito bites...

If anyone in your party is one of those people that tends to attract all the mosquitoes, bring something to protect them. It doesn't matter where I go, if I'm camping in Colorado in the summer, I get bit. Without fail. My SO or anyone else I'm will usually walks away with nothing or only a bite or 2, but I will be covered in bites.
I thought this was just me, glad (sort of?) to see there is someone else out there with natural mosquito cologne.
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by SkaredShtles »

Scott P wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 9:47 am Anyway, as a rule of thumb, if you are somewhere with lakes in Colorado in late June through mid July, expect mosquitoes. Away from the areas with lakes they usually aren't so bad with the exception of along some rivers (mosquito season along rivers starts and ends later than the areas around lakes). Mosquito population around lakes generally starts to decrease in mid July (except in heavy snow years) and by mid August there usually aren't as many. In the high country by September there are usually gone completely (though in the Wind Rivers they last into September in many areas).
We did a 6-day Labor Day trip to the Winds a couple years ago... perfect weather the whole time, and no mosquitoes. We got lucky. :mrgreen:
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by TomPierce »

I do some river kayaking and have noticed that June seems to be the worst month along rivers, into early July. Obviously water is the ideal breeding area. But I've also seen them sorta slack off a bit later into the night when it cools off.

I've had good luck with most repellents (Ben's is my weapon of choice) but fwiw the highest DEET concentration I've found is the Jungle Juice sold by REI, at about 95% I think. But to really avoid them a physical barrier is probably best, and Coglan's makes pretty cheap and lightweight head nets and mesh jackets. I once took a mesh jacket on an August Yampa River trip based on reports of awful bugs but by mid August there were basically none, mosquito season was over.

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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by rdp32 »

Scott P wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 9:47 am Anyway, as a rule of thumb, if you are somewhere with lakes in Colorado in late June through mid July, expect mosquitoes. Away from the areas with lakes they usually aren't so bad with the exception of along some rivers (mosquito season along rivers starts and ends later than the areas around lakes). Mosquito population around lakes generally starts to decrease in mid July (except in heavy snow years) and by mid August there usually aren't as many. In the high country by September there are usually gone completely (though in the Wind Rivers they last into September in many areas).
Thanks Scott; that's the kind of input I was hoping for. That mostly confirms what I've experienced. Hopefully early July this year is more like mid/late July in a typical year, since we've had a lower snowpack.
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by rdp32 »

TomPierce wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 10:46 am I do some river kayaking and have noticed that June seems to be the worst month along rivers, into early July. Obviously water is the ideal breeding area. But I've also seen them sorta slack off a bit later into the night when it cools off.

I've had good luck with most repellents (Ben's is my weapon of choice) but fwiw the highest DEET concentration I've found is the Jungle Juice sold by REI, at about 95% I think. But to really avoid them a physical barrier is probably best, and Coglan's makes pretty cheap and lightweight head nets and mesh jackets. I once took a mesh jacket on an August Yampa River trip based on reports of awful bugs but by mid August there were basically none, mosquito season was over.

-Tom
Thanks Tom. I agree about physical barrier being the best; I've had success with permethrin-soaked long sleeves/pants along with headnet/gloves in the Winds in July. But I still feel like I have a harder time predicting bug levels than other factors like weather, snowpack, etc (since there are useful websites that you can check for those conditions).
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by nyker »

rdp32 wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:19 am I am pretty bad at predicting when bugs will be bad when camping/backpacking in CO. In my experience they are generally mostly gone by mid-August or so in the mountains (and sometimes earlier), but I don't have a great feel for when exactly I should expect them to start to get really bad in early/mid Summer. In this particular instance, I'm trying to gauge how bad the bugs will be in early July in the Northern Sawatch range (I'm a little concerned that my planned family backpacking trip will turn into a nightmare due to the mosquitoes), but I would also like to know if there are any general rules of thumbs, basic principles, or websites (with bug conditions) that people would like to share in these regards. I am not looking for tips for how to cope with them (I already have headnets, long sleeves, permethrin, deet, picaradin, etc.), but rather how to predict when they will be bad.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!
I'd say anytime you have recent rains resulting in standing water especially in warmer temperatures above 70F, expect mosquitoes. Ditto any hikes near lakes, ponds, bogs, streams/rivers with slower sections, etc.

What I have done to help mitigate bugs during these times were staying further away from any standing water that either attract mosquitoes or where they breed, not camping in lower more moist areas and camping higher up, even above treeline where It's not only on average colder and drier but windier which will blow away the bugs.

It might be an old wives tale but I've found eating garlic repels mosquitoes and eating more sugary food attracts them.
Head nets work wonders too.
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

Either go camping in winter or man up and deal with it bro
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Re: bugs/mosquitoes---rules of thumb?

Post by mtngoatwithstyle »

Hello from Crestone.They are THICK right now.Just awful.It must be a mosquito convention for Summer Solstice.Deet & Citronella will not cut it.They are vicious.
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