Black Flies are back in Northern NH

[peakbagger]

Spring rolls on in the north county of NH. The black flies were out in small quantities but not aggressively biting this weekend. I was in Milan which is just few miles north of the Mahoosucs so expect the Mahoosucs and western maine will be seeing them. Lies up pretty well with the "in by mothers day and gone by fathers day" rule.

Kind of strange as its snowing out (but not sticking) as I write this.

[egilbe]

We were hiking off East B Hill Rd to East Bald Pate yesterday. A few were flying around our face in the morning, but not too bad. Stopped in Evans Notch to check out the Lower and Upper Bickford slides and there were a lot more of them. Got the insect repellant out and applied to neck, face and hands, but it didnt really help. I mentioned to my girlfriend that I already miss Winter.

[Traveler]

I find long sleeves/pants, a wide brim hat with a head net is about the only "sure" way to defend against black fly. Its not my favorite attire but it works very well when you walk into a swarm.

[Shae]

I've been stacking firewood the past two days here in central NH and they are pretty thick with lots of biting females. Ticks continue to be plentiful as well.

[Slo-go'en]

I picked up a tick while clearing branches from my yard the other day. Seen a few flies, but not many. If it warms up later in the week, they will probably start to become more plentiful.

[Scrum]

The black flies were brutal in NH this weekend. We could not even sit and eat lunch on top of Mt. Mariah, the swarm of black flies was so bad that we only lasted 2 minutes on top before heading back down. We were covered in DEET and it only seemed to help a bit.

We picked up a SOBO hitching in Gorham who told horror stories of being devoured by the bugs over the last week any time her paced dropped below 2.5 miles per hour.

Somehow the bloodletting by black flies and the first hot, humid day of hiking this season, made the post-hike beer taste better.

[Slo-go'en]

For some odd reason, black flies do like to find their way up to the summits. Trying to work outside has been brutal and ticks are still abundant. The mosquito's were really thick a few days ago. The store shelves are sold out of insect repellent, not surprising.