After a weekend of mixed rain/snow, I was hoping the mosquito hatch would have been delayed or aborted. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
First the trail conditions. There are two logs over the trail that are easy to get over. The rest of the trail is in good shape. Evidence from the weekend weather was in the trail right at the start. All the forest duff and dust had been washed out the center of the trail trough! Yes, it had rained substantially.
There are a few flowers early on, and fewer once on the climb toward the lakes. The meadow before the lower lake and the area around the upper lake has heather blooming.
All the camps at the lower lake are melted out and dry. At the upper lake, two are dry, two are usable and partially snow covered. The large camp on the south end of the upper lake is snow covered.
Back to the bugs. At the trailhead, there are a few mosquitoes, bees, wasps, and flies, but nothing bothersome. On the initial hike on the Eagles Lakes Trail, the bugs were not a problem. Once I started up the Crater Creek trail and across the bridge 1.5 miles from the trailhead, I noticed a few more mosquitoes when I stopped for a break - still nothing too bad.
At a second stop to clear a log, it was time for repellant. Long sleeves were not an option with a lot of the trail climb still to go. Thankfully when moving the bugs were too bad.
When I reached the meadow just before the lower lake, it was obvious the hatch was at full bore. A slight breeze helped keep the mosquitoes at bay, but when it calmed for short periods, the "whine cloud" would congregate around my head.
I decided to try the upper lake. The crossing of the lower lake outlet was a combination log walk and rock hop. Other than a few logs to get over/under/around, the short boot trail to the upper lake was easy. Yes, there were two small snow patches, easy to cross. they won't last long.
At the upper lake the views were great and the wind stronger. I went down to the south end of the lake and decided not go across the spring swamp to continue to circumnavigate the lake.
While eating lunch, now in long sleeves and with a repellant refresh I enjoyed the periodic breeze. When I had enough "whining", I headed back to the car.
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