Avoiding bugs in July – Winds, Uintas, Sawtooths

[Lee]

<span style=”color: #000000;”>For the past several years, I’ve been taking an annual backpacking trip to the Wind River Range in late August or early September. However, my kids are now getting old enough to join me, and since they are in school that time of year, I’m looking at options for a July trip with kids. I have always been hesitant to venture into the Winds before August 1^st as I’ve been told the mosquitoes are quite thick that time of year. I don’t mind a few bugs and I’m not opposed to having to use a little DEET, but if they are so bad that we have to wear headnets, then I’d prefer to find a different destination.</span>

<span style=”color: #000000;”>Any suggestions out there for an alpine destination that is tolerable in terms of bugs in July? I’m really drawn to places like the Winds, Unitas & Sawtooths as my priorities are scenery, solitude & fishing. Are any of these places less “buggy”in July than the others? If not, I’d love to hear any strategies for how to make a July trip a success despite a preponderance of blood-suckers.</span>

[obx hiker]

I’ve been thinking about bugs in the Winds since they had all the snow in May and I’m planning a trip for August. I can’t speak from any depth of experience but did visit on the big (according to Postholer biggest) snow year in 2017 the last half of August. Currently according to Postholer the section from @ Hat Pass north to @ a few mile south of Green River Lakes/Peak Lake etc is above the 2017 levels and so a new high. The areas south of Hat Pass down towards Bonneville, East Fork and the Cirque etc is more kind of high normal. I’m not sure how Postholer comes up with their data; seems to be some sort of interpolation or algorithm involved but the nearby snotel sites do kind of reinforce their charts. Hobbs snotel site over on the east side is currently really high and it is actually lower in latitude or further south on an east/west line than Hat Pass so maybe there’s also some variation east and west as well as north/south in snowfall but it seems to be pretty high to really high everywhere.

I’ve thought back to the 2017 trip which was between the 15th and 25th to see if I could prepare based on that experience. That year I only left mosquitoes behind above 11,000 feet. The  2 places I camped that were relatively mosquito free were not particularly close to tarns or lakes but did have flowing streams. Since the only somewhat level camping spots tend to be somewhere near lakes or tarns finding level spots away from still water can take some planning. My best item of gear on that trip was a permethrin treated long sleeved shirt and I wouldn’t leave home without it. OTOH the bugs went away @ dark/stars out, weren’t around much until sometime after sunrise (didn’t have a screened shelter) and didn’t bother me hiking at all. I never wore a net but had one. Carried little pen-type spray tube of  sawyers fisherman’s picaridin and occasionally applied to face and hands in the evening. That trip and last year ( no mosquitoes at all!) were in the last half of August so I can only guess about July. Also if you’re going to the north half and/or crossing any moderately high passes in July there might be some surprising amounts of snow around. Does appear to be starting to melt out below 10,000 but may take awhile to melt out to/past 11K.

Be interesting to get the benefit of some local or long time experience on this topic.

[obx hiker]

Poking around on Postholer I found this NOAA  site showing snow depths nation wide. Not that simple to use but really informative once you’ve got it figured out. I’d bookmark this link if I wanted good snow depth info. Looks like there’s a lot of snow pretty much everywhere in the west except maybe Glacier.

USA Snow Depth

[Lester Moore]

Are any of these places less “buggy”in July than the others?

July is peak mosquito season in the Winds and likely also in the Sawtooths, so best to plan accordingly with head net, long sleeve woven shirt and long woven pants. Bugs are worst in wet areas that are sheltered from wind. You can greatly reduce bugs in camp by choosing sites with wind (high and exposed areas typically), but that’s only prudent if the weather is good. Bugs also taper off in the evening as the temperature drops, so you’ll get some relative peace then.

[Lee]

Thanks for the help/info.  Hiking around Labor Day has me pretty spoiled in terms of bugs. Not surprising, the only year recently that I saw mosquitoes in the Winds was late August 2017, which I’m coming to realize was a really big snow year.

Sounds like I’m going to need to get accustomed to camping in slightly more exposed areas if I want to keep the bugs at bay in July. Probably will wear a shirt treated with permethrin & bring headnets in case. I’m also willing to bet that all the areas I mentioned are somewhat equivalent in terms of bugs. Staying at a higher elevation may be my best bet.

[Author]

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