Great Smoky Mountains – LeConte – Bugs?

[Frank Perkins]

I'm planning a Spring trip to GSMNP to hike LeConte. I had a question about bugs and weather. What is the earliest I could do the hike without having to worry about ice/snow and bugs. I have read some info about chiggers/ticks and I would like to avoid any of these pests before Spring officially starts. Anyone with experience in hiking there could give me some good start times, I would appreciate it.

I did some research on historical weather and it would seem that in April the high is 65 and low is 33 which I would assume would mean it's bug free?

[Joseph Jacaruso]

Its just a roll of the dice. Last year there were two major snow storms in that area (well as major as they got last year)during April. I was in the Smokies in early May and the bugs were bad the first two days. Then there was a cool spell and the bugs were gone again.

NC has weather that changes quickly and the bugs respond to it. I live just east of Greensboro. While the high here yesterday was in the 40's I was removing ticks from my dog earlier this week when highs were in the 70's for a couple of days. Our first frost was over a month ago.

The only safe (or bug proof) way to hike here is the dead of winter or carry deet.

BTW the same goes for snakes.

[Author]

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