Yosemite hike update

[Alan Curtis]

Mosquitoes are more attracted to dark colors, so if you can convince your companions to wear black and you wear white more of them well attack them than you. There is a fairly new repellant developed for the military called Picaridin it works quite well and is readily available, all of the major repellant providers sell it. Some of the natural repellants like eucalyptus, lemon and citronella sort of work but, not for the length of time DEET and Picaridin do and they can actually be more irritating than DEET or Picaridin.
If you are in a location were disease transmission by mosquitoes is a concern don't use anything other than DEET or Picaridin.

[ROL]

Anecdotally, we bought commercial picaridin repellants (i.e., Off) a few years ago, because of their promising test results against DEET and safer long term use with nylon fabrics – pretty much everything worn or carried into the backcountry these days. My wife, who coincidentally is darker and less blond () and apparently more desirable, and I have not found picaridin to be nearly as effective or long–lasting as 30 – 40% DEET, at least for the variety of little Sierran vampires.

[Alan Curtis]

Actually, I don't use repellants at all. After 40+ years working professionally with the little vampires I developed an immunity to them. They still bite me but, I don't react. If you google Alan Curtis mosquito legs, the first image that appears is my legs and mosquitoes after a 1977 hurricane here in Florida. It's about 500 mosquitoes front and back. It is a self portrait, I couldn't get anyone to endure the situation with me. It's not LF by the way.

[Keith S. Walklet]

ROL... The mention of Nylon caught my eye... I discovered quite by accident that a tightly woven nylon works wonders against mosquitoes. I've purchased nothing but Nylon shirts and pants for backpacking for some time now such as the Columbia brand Titanium fabric and North Face nylon zip off pants. The mosquitoes can't bite through that fabric. They can bite through poly blends.

For entertainment, I love to bend my knee and get the fabric taught on the pants and watch them poke around in frustration. When the mosquitoes are really aggressive, then I resort to a minimal application of Deet onto the backs of my hands, neck, ears and temples.

[David Schaller]

Well, the mosquitoes bit through, or perhaps got underneath my light-colored nylon pants on a trip last week to northern NH. I didn't even realize it at the time, concentrating on my fly fishing!


I am using bug dope tonight when I go canoeing.
Dave

[Drew Wiley]

I was just up the hill for a quick loop over Tioga, a dayhike up Virginia Lks, and back over
Sonora. Never got a single bite, though the bugs were still a bit heavy in the shade up
around Tuolumne Mdw. Camped in aspen outside the Park. It's a relative drought year - not as bad as some years I've seen, but more like early Aug than a typical 4th of July.
Very clear air everywhere. Just hope it stays that way in a month when I start backpcking
in earnest, and that there won't be forest fire smoke drifting in from somewhere. Feel sorry
for the nightmare folks are going thru in Colorado right now, but if you want to live amidst
lodgpole pines, it's only a matter of time.

[John Kasaian]

Baaad skeeters in Little Yosemite Valley! Once I was up there on my way to Half dome while wearing a long sleeve flannel shirt. One of those lil' guys stuck his proboscus right into the flannel! It looked like I'd been shot with one of those air gun darts!
The worst skeeters I've seen were in the Alaska. I'd keep the leading edges of the Cub waxed to keep the dead skeeters from building up on the wings.

[Drew Wiley]

I drove over Tioga last Thurs and there was very little traffic - more interested in the lower
foothills photographically to and from - but needed some altitude too. Going past the
Cathedral Lks trailhead, however, there was an immense number of cars parked, and a whole herd of young folks naively heading out in T-shirts and shorts. I'll bet the "wildlife"
really ate well on that trail, that particular day.

[Kodachrome25]

The hike for me was a little bit hard since I have 25-30lbs of camera gear on my back.

As a pro who has over 100 summits and thousands of miles in the wilderness to his credit, I will never-ever understand what convinces amateurs to carry so much gear. I shot an entire article for Outside Magazine with a single D700 and 28mm F/2, 500 C/M with a 100mm 3.5, 50mm F/4 and two backs...28 miles in one day with nearly 9,000 feet of vertical gained at an average elevation of 11,000 feet...

I think my entire pack hit 18 pounds when the 90OZ Camelbak was full. It also included clothing, food, spare food, headlamp, water filter, GPS, tripod, bivy sack, etc.

My standard 3 lens, 6 holder 4x5 kit tips the scales at 8 pounds...with the CF tripod, filters, step up rings, Harrison Pup tent, etc.

[Drew Wiley]

I haven't had an eighteen pound pack since I was eighteen! For the last thirty years it has
seldom been below eighty. Now I'm dreaming of 60 as ultralight. You start life in diapers and go out in diapers, start photography with 35mm and apparently go out that way too.
I'd like to see anyone travel for ten days carrying the necessary things for survival plus
a 4x5 system for less than fifty or sixty lbs, and that's with all the newer technology like
carbon fiber, 800-fill down, tiny lenses, Quickload (well, there goes that one)...