The bugs weren’t as bad as some people made them out to be. We had treated our clothes with Permethrin and I brought both DEET and a headnet but didn’t use either. Obviously the meadows had bugs (Evolution meadow, Big Pete Meadow, etc), and one camp the mosquitoes were fairly bad along Hilgrad Creek on our way up from the JMT to White Bear Pass, but not too bad. There was a breeze and they didn’t show up in force until after we had eaten and gotten in our shelters. I’d wear mosquito proof clothing and sleep in a net tent for sure. No mosquitoes to speak of in Humphrey’s basin proper, just a few here and there. No mosquitoes in Bear Lakes Basin that I remember. The mosquitoes were mostly at less than 10K feet, though that may change with the melt.
Bear Creek was a knee deep wade, nothing sketchy. Hilgrad Creek was a rock hop (it was braided where we crossed). We crossed Evolution Creek at the alternate crossing in Evolution Meadow, as we heard the main crossing was deep and swift. The alternate crossing was an easy knee deep crossing, and when we passed the main crossing, it didn’t look that sketchy. I’ll post a picture of Bear Creek’s crossing below.
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