We have come up with stages of mosquito madness:
Stage 1: Not many around. Pleasant walking and pleasant sitting. Possibly have to swat at one or two.
Stage 2:Pleasant walking...they don't really find you. Sitting you are swarmed, however, and you must have DEET a/o a headnet or both.
Stage 3:Swarmed while walking and sitting. Must wear "mosquito armor" and DEET at all times.
Today was a stage 3 day. It was quite possibly the worst we've had them yet. It wasn't like this all day, but they were pretty bad in lots of places, and then we came up on Summit Lake and all hell broke loose. They were psycho. We threw down our packs and threw on jackets and headnets and DEET. It makes me happy we were eased into the mosquitos, because if we had gotten this from the get-go, I might have gone mad.
The rest of our crew was camping at this mosquito-infested lake (they all have tents), but since it was still early, we decided to head on a few more miles in hopes of some relief or at least cooler temps. The next few miles took us up over 1000 ft and into the glacial bowl of Diamond Peak. There was still a ton of snow, and therefore, still a ton of mosquitos. But it was definitely cooler which makes sleeping all zipped up in our warm sleeping bags more comfortable. We got all organized, set up the tarp, and I made use of the 10 min or so of mosquito relief before they found their way in. Just before sleep, we took it down and set free the 40 or so in our tarp, where they promptly began buzzing around our heads :). Regardless, we still slept well and had a great view when we woke up as well.
Total Miles:1901.6
Miles Today:30.8
Camp 94:Diamond Peak
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