WhiteBlaze Pages 2024
A Complete Appalachian Trail Guidebook.
AVAILABLE NOW. $4 for interactive PDF(smartphone version)
Read more here WhiteBlaze Pages Store

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 34

Thread: Bugs on the LT

  1. #1

    Default Bugs on the LT

    FYI for those of you starting the LT in the next few weeks, the mosquitos and black flies are hatching and WOW are the biting. Bring your DEET especially for areas North of the AT.

  2. #2
    CDT - 2013, PCT - 2009, AT - 1300 miles done burger's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-03-2005
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    1,437

    Default

    I'll second that. I hiked from FR 72 (near the base of Stratton Mt.) to Goddard Shelter and back last weekend, and the blackflies were horrendous when it warmed up. I actually cut my trip short by a day because the bugs were keeping me from enjoying myself.

    It's too bad that spring is so buggy in New England--it's the nicest time of year for birds and flowers and (usually) has great weather. Makes me long for someplace nice and dry that doesn't have any biting insects.

  3. #3
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-02-2007
    Location
    DFW, TX / Northern NH
    Age
    67
    Posts
    8,143
    Images
    27

    Default

    Rats. I was thinking of doing a weekend hike with my daughter over in the Big Branch area. Maybe I'll wait a week or two. Bugs are out but still manageable with repellent on this side of the CT river - they weren't too bad when I was mowing the field yesterday.
    "That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett

  4. #4
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-02-2007
    Location
    DFW, TX / Northern NH
    Age
    67
    Posts
    8,143
    Images
    27

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by burger View Post
    ...Makes me long for someplace nice and dry that doesn't have any biting insects.
    I think that place is called autumn most everywhere. We are all just intruders on an insect/bug inhabited world.
    "That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett

  5. #5
    CDT - 2013, PCT - 2009, AT - 1300 miles done burger's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-03-2005
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    1,437

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by 4eyedbuzzard View Post
    I think that place is called autumn most everywhere. We are all just intruders on an insect/bug inhabited world.
    Actually, I call that place Arizona.

  6. #6

    Default

    Must've gotten lucky this weekend.....bugs were not much of a problem between Johnson and Eden....maybe I'm used to them? The mud on the other hand....was knee deep in more places than I ever recall.

  7. #7
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-02-2007
    Location
    DFW, TX / Northern NH
    Age
    67
    Posts
    8,143
    Images
    27

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by burger View Post
    Actually, I call that place Arizona.
    They got them scorpions and spiders and snakes though.
    "That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett

  8. #8
    Registered User Pokey2006's Avatar
    Join Date
    07-14-2006
    Location
    Gatlinburg, TN
    Age
    51
    Posts
    1,294
    Images
    41

    Default

    I'd take spiders over mosquitoes any day.

  9. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-24-2007
    Location
    Michigan
    Age
    68
    Posts
    3,053
    Images
    17

    Default

    Big snow melt = lots of bugs...yikes.
    If you find yourself in a fair fight; your tactics suck.

  10. #10

    Default

    Bugs were especially bad at Stratton pond last week (Thursday) when I hiked through (from Kid Gore Shelter). I stayed on the tent platform near the pond and nearly had to stay in my tent the whole time.
    Security is mostly a superstition.....
    Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.

  11. #11

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by 4eyedbuzzard View Post
    Rats. I was thinking of doing a weekend hike with my daughter over in the Big Branch area. Maybe I'll wait a week or two. Bugs are out but still manageable with repellent on this side of the CT river - they weren't too bad when I was mowing the field yesterday.
    I was up in the Big Branch section last weekend and the bugs didn't get bad until 5ish while I was setting up a tent at Lost Pond. But if you were hiking there were fine. Of course, I was wearing long pants, a long sleeved shirt, and a bandana sprayed with permethrin that might have kept them more at bay than just deet.

  12. #12
    Never Stop Dreaming Rainman's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-21-2005
    Location
    Orlando, Florida, United States
    Age
    60
    Posts
    289
    Images
    37

    Default Jonesville north to Journey's end

    I am starting north from Jonesville on July 6. Do you think the insects will be better by then? All the bugs seem to indicate no problems finding water. do you have any specific water info for that section?

    Rainman

    Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,
    It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.

    - Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass; Song of the Open Road.

  13. #13
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-02-2007
    Location
    DFW, TX / Northern NH
    Age
    67
    Posts
    8,143
    Images
    27

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by earlylight View Post
    I was up in the Big Branch section last weekend and the bugs didn't get bad until 5ish while I was setting up a tent at Lost Pond. But if you were hiking there were fine. Of course, I was wearing long pants, a long sleeved shirt, and a bandana sprayed with permethrin that might have kept them more at bay than just deet.
    Thanks for the info.
    "That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett

  14. #14
    Registered User
    Join Date
    05-27-2008
    Location
    Vermont
    Age
    38
    Posts
    4

    Default

    The black flies were awful on the north side of camels hump yesterday.

  15. #15
    Registered User Landshark's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-15-2007
    Location
    Rutland, VT
    Age
    46
    Posts
    90
    Images
    10

    Default black flies

    The bugs have been bad. I've heard that they are worse than ever due to the dying bat population. We hiked from Bolton Notch rd. to the Lake Mansfield Trail a week and a half ago, and the black flies were swarming our eyes, mouths, noses, and every other orifice. Some of that area involves some scrambling where you have to put your hands down, and it is really hard to swat bugs when you are clinging to a rock slab! I applied lots of deep woods off and at the time, everyone was complaining about getting bitten. I thought I wasn't getting bitten. However, when I returned home that night I was COVERED in bites especially on my elbows and knees for some reason. Why, I don't know, but the outsides of my elbows and knees are absolutely covered. Bleccch. Save the bats!
    "Dreamt last night I was climbing mountains
    Way beyond love’s fierce hold..."

  16. #16

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by burger View Post
    Actually, I call that place Arizona.
    yep. doin a full moon hike on the bright angel trail tomorrow

  17. #17
    Registered User Monkeywrench's Avatar
    Join Date
    06-03-2008
    Location
    Quincy, MA (Boston area)
    Age
    65
    Posts
    674

    Default

    Bugs on the LT? Come on folks, this is the 21st century! Do you really believe we would allow bugs in OUR national forests in this enlightened age of outdoor recreation? All these stories of bugs are perpetrated by elitist left-wing tree-huggers trying to keep you from going out and enjoying your birth-right.
    ~~
    Allen "Monkeywrench" Freeman
    NOBO 3-18-09 - 9-27-09
    blog.allenf.com
    [email protected]
    www.allenf.com

  18. #18
    Registered User
    Join Date
    09-11-2004
    Location
    Grafton, NH
    Age
    77
    Posts
    2,477

    Default Bugs on the LT

    Quote Originally Posted by affreeman View Post
    Bugs on the LT? Come on folks, this is the 21st century! Do you really believe we would allow bugs in OUR national forests in this enlightened age of outdoor recreation? All these stories of bugs are perpetrated by elitist left-wing tree-huggers trying to keep you from going out and enjoying your birth-right.
    LMAO, damn elites, lefties... they ruin everything.

  19. #19
    Registered User
    Join Date
    04-10-2004
    Location
    COHOES,NY
    Age
    78
    Posts
    6

    Default dying bats

    What's killing the bats? Sorry for ignorance.

  20. #20

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by SPOON1 View Post
    What's killing the bats? Sorry for ignorance.
    No need to apologize....white nose syndrome.

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
++ New Posts ++

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •