Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mosquitos

Are the bugs thick and disorderly at the portal and on the main trail?

Is this a rhetorical question? Of course they are...Bring DEET for you and permetherin or similar for clothing.

We just summited July 1. The bugs were plentiful from the Portal up through about Mirror Lake, but as you cleared the tree line, they went away. I didn't notice any bugs during our two nights at Trail Camp, or higher on the trail.

Mt Conness from July 4:
The mosquitos were as thick as fog all day from the when the sun came up all the way to the friggin summit!! I thought I saw a small dog being carried away by one of them!! Carry extra bug repellent. It was relentless and almost ruined the day.
Beautiful day in the mountains!

On July 2nd we were on the trail before the bugs were awake. Otherwise they were waiting for us on the way down.

Forget the bug spray, that stuff didn't help much this past weekend. Long sleeve shirt and pants (even with the heat) will likely be your best bet to fight the nasty things off!

I spent the night at the Portal on July 1, and didn't think the skeeters were bad at all. Next day we hiked up to UBSL and still no real skeeter problems. I brought DEET, but the only time I put it on was during the descent from Russell the next day. Around dusk at Lone Pine creek the skeeters got a little annoying. But believe me, compared to past years the skeeters seems pretty light.