[Curt]

We headed up to Lake Laura late on Thursday and arrived about sunset. Pretty little lake, but we did little more than sleep there. Got up to Lillian quickly Friday morning. Not a person to be found anywhere. Beautiful lake. Went up to the top of the ridge above and hung out for a long time, soaking in the massive views on either side. A nice breeze kept the temperatures reasonable and the bugs away. The trek from the ridge above Lillian to the Rachel/Ramparts basins was nearly perfect ridge walking. Big views, flowers were everywhere, lots of little pockets to explore, and sustained open parklands. My only complaint is that it was over so quickly! We got to the overlook of Ramparts and Rachel relatively soon and descended into the Ramparts basin. At this point we hadn't seen a single person since the car. There was one very nice couple dayhiking at Ramparts, but otherwise we had the entire basin to ourselves. Kind of strange for a Friday mid-summer. By afternoon there were a few parties up there, but the basin is so big with so many private areas that I'm sure everyone felt like they were the only ones up there. Then the bugs started. Wow! I can't remember them ever being so bad in Washington. I grew up in Minnesota, and they were every bit as bad as there. Literally hundreds on us at a time. I had to brave it to get some fishing in. I went with nylon pants, a windshirt, and headnet to cover head-to-toe. I pulled my left hand up into my windshirt, leaving only my casting hand exposed and it was slathered with DEET. After a couple hours of fishing - very active fish, mostly beautiful cutthroat that were larger than I'd expected from this lake - I bailed to the tent to assess the damage. Back of my right hand only: 52 bites!!!! I look like I have severe chicken pox on my hand. We'd planned on staying to Sunday, but bailed on Saturday morning. The bugs had finally gone to bed around 8 p.m. Friday, but started again in full force shortly after sunrise. Fortunately we got a hold of our ride home for an earlier pick up. We descended via Rachel Lake / Box Canyon . About a million people heading up the trail on Saturday. It's been a loooong time since I can remember bugs being so intolerable that I'd actually want to leave early from a trip. Great hiking, gorgeous views and lakes, good fishing, but freak-show miserable mosquitoes. Is it the wet spring we had? The recent week of high temps? Not sure what the cause is, but as far as we could tell at least two other groups were high-tailing it out of the basin on Saturday morning as well. In fact, we didn't see even one group that looked like they were staying in camp up there on a Saturday! My hiking partner had the camera, but the pics in the other TR are excellent and tell the story.

[Kat]

I had the same horrific bug experience this weekend too! On Sunday morning. Swarms, swarms, swarms of flying vampires seemingly impervious to Deet - & capable of biting thru shirts & pants. We couldn't pack up fast enough to beat it the heck outa there! At least you enjoyed part of your trip!

[Curt]

I suppose some of the silver lining was the opportunity to discover what works. I was wearing EPIC nylon pants that they couldn't penetrate (of course, I had dozens of bites on my legs before donning the pants), and my 3.7 oz Montane windshirt - despite being incredibly thin - was apparently so tightly woven that they couldn't get through. It's breathable enough that I could keep it on with temps in the 80s without wilting and it went a long way towards my sanity. I'm a big fan of windshirts anyway, but now I'm feeling pretty religious about them.

[captain jack]

I agree the Skeeters are unusually bad this year, although I'm not sure why. I also recommend carrying a windshirt for protection, not just from weather. I never planned on using my Ether windshirt for bug protection, and I was skeptical of its ability to stop the bites, but after a few days of use in May, I was convinced. If I have a choice between the windshirt and deet, like in the evening before bed, I prefer to just slip on the windshirt until its tent time. I got another Golite, called a Helios jacket, for Spindy, both are long sleeved, with hoods, and stuff to the size of an energy bar.