Did anyone else donate at least 1/5 of their blood to black flies this weekend?

[HighHorse]

I climbed the Hancocks this weekend and was devoured. It was unreal. The worst was that the summits seemed to be the most ferocious haunts for those little !@#$s. I took cursing to a whole new level in search of phrases that would let those little insects know how I really felt about them. Bug repellent's efficacy was laughable at best. It was by far the worst trouble I've ever had with bugs in the Whites.

 

[jeanvabu]

Buggers

Evil little creatures. I am missing chunks of my skin. And I woke up at 3 AM sooooo itchy. Hope the bugs are gone by next weekend. Doubt it but really hoping.

 

[Panama Jack]

Low black fly count on the Moose

There was a very refreshing breeze all the way up Cascade and of course on the summit I was having a hard time against the breeze, no little &^$# stood a chance up there!

 

[NewHampshire]

Ha! I saw not ONE SINGLE black fly on the Davis Path in Crawford Notch yesterday!!!!!

BUT...... Mo-skeeters are another story ! I think my sister LOVES hiking with me because all the bugs attack ME and leave HER alone .

Brian

 

[DougPaul]

Ha! I saw not ONE SINGLE black fly on the Davis Path in Crawford Notch yesterday!!!!!

Beginner's luck?

BUT...... Mo-skeeters are another story! I think my sister LOVES hiking with me because all the bugs attack ME and leave HER alone.

Oh well, guess it can't last forever...

Doug

 

[Artex]

None going up the Airline to Adams and Jefferson. However, there's not a ton of swift moving streams/brooks in that area either.

 

[HighHorse]

I was doing ok this Sunday, until the last mile of the Brook trail (or "Boork trail" according to my trail conditions post -- oops ) on Chocorua. They suddenly came out in force and I ended up running the rest of the trail back to my car.

^MtnMike^

I hear you. My friend almost took a couple of good falls because she said that running from the bugs clouded her decisions when descending.

 

[HikerBob]

Ran into skeeters, black flies and other nasties on North Twin on Sunday.

Deet in the form of 'Off' sunblock deterred the skeeters. Zipping the legs back on the shorts (tucked into socks) stopped the blackfly leg attacks and adding more Off and donning headnets for the walk out prevented more head carnage.

Deet, loose clothing and headnets are good against the skeeters. Any covering stops the blackfly.

Finished the day with under six bites. Not bad.

Bob

 

[poison ivy]

It's funny... while backpacking in Maine this weekend, I was thinking that the black flies haven't been all that bad this year. The mosquitoes, on the other hand, have been driving me absolutely insane.

- Ivy

 

[Sugarloafer]

Ha! I saw not ONE SINGLE black fly on the Davis Path in Crawford Notch yesterday!!!!!

Same deal on the Webster-Jackson Trail !! It was my second time in Crawford Notch in the last month and not one black fly !!

 

[sp1936]

Black flies not too bad, but lots of mosquitoes as we were finishing up the last half-mile of the Mt. Tremont Trail on Sunday. These were my wife's exact words: "If I ever, EVER say that I want to come to the mountains in July again, shoot me." She really likes winter. I've heard this before. She'll get over it.

Steve

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

I didn't see any on Nippletop-Dial-Bear Den (Adks) until descending Noonmark, where they were waiting in huge swarms. Even worse, were the deer flies. I was hoping one would eat the other, but they seemed to be working as a team. Once I reached the dirt road to the Club, they were non-existant.

Seems like a late hatch this year. Hopefully the forecast warm weather will be their demise.

 

[dentonfabrics]

I climbed the Hancocks this weekend and was devoured. It was unreal. The worst was that the summits seemed to be the most ferocious haunts for those little !@#$s. I took cursing to a whole new level in search of phrases that would let those little insects know how I really felt about them. Bug repellent's efficacy was laughable at best. It was by far the worst trouble I've ever had with bugs in the Whites.

I did the Hancocks last Tuesday and didnt see any black flies at all! Tons of mosquitos down low but there was nothing on the summit. Conditions vary from time to time, place to place. Most years, the black flies are pretty much dead by now anyway so hopefully we wont have to put up with them much longer.

thanks,
denton fabrics

 

[Peakbagr]

We were doing a trailless ADK100 yesterday. All bushwacking. For almost the entire day, the huge horseflies and deerflies were relentless. I must have swatted 250 of them and squished another 500. It did nothing to make them relent. One of our guys remarked that they were the sise ob bumblebees. One of the worst days for flies I've ever had.

 

[jjmcgo]

Plenty of skeeters, black flies

and horse flies on the Appalachian Trail and Crater Lake Trail in the Kittatinnies yesterday.
But it was the snake that slithered out of the lake next to where I was sitting that really got me moving.
Met a thru-hiker who had taken 107 days to get from Springer to Crater Lake. He saw three bears north of Sunfish Pond yesterday.

 

[lamerunner]

I hiked the Nancy Pond Trail Friday afternoon, started at 2 and got out about7:45. The mosquitoes carried me out the last mile or so. It seemed someone sounded a bugle around 7:15 to let them know I was coming.
And I thought beating the darkness was the biggest problem!

Pretty wet area.

 

[rocksnrolls]

on Mt Kinsman

I did the Mt Kinsman Tr up to South Kinsman and back and the black flies were really bad along Kinsman Ridge. Seemed like anytime I stopped up there they were all over me within a minute. Luckily my hairy limbs gave me a little extra protection against the little ba****ds as they tend to get caught in the hairs long enough for me to squish them . The open ledge about a third of the way from North to South Peak seemed to be the only place breezey enough to stop and have a snack for myself. Mosquitos didn't seem to be a problem at all.

 

[HighHorse]

Luckily my hairy limbs gave me a little extra protection against the little ba****ds as they tend to get caught in the hairs long enough for me to squish them .

i should have worn pants. i shave my legs (i'm a cyclist) so they got to me easily. i almost put on my gaiters strictly for bug protection purposes, but it was just warm enough to make it seem uncomfortable.