summertime and
http://geology.com/lakes-rivers-water/michigan.shtml
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mi/nwis/rt
http://www.city-data.com/forum/michigan/335631-black-flies-aaaaaarrrggghh-4.html
tent worms ?
We have two peninsulas
– Last Updated: Feb-27-15 4:28 PM EST –
Black flies are a problem in the U.P. Not so much in the lower, where Torch Lake is located.
Tent caterpillars are just that: they build tents in bushes and trees and don't leave their tents. Crazy people set fire to the tents when all they need is a spray bottle filled with water mixed with Dawn liquid detergent to dispatch the caterpillars.
The Eastern Tent Caterpillar, Forest Tent Caterpillar, and Gypsy Moth Caterpillar are the defoiliators. They're cyclical and climbers. A mix of Dawn liquid detergent and water is very effective against them (I know from experience, having killed a gabillion Forest Tent worms during an outbreak years ago). In bad years, lake associations and communities arrange for aerial sprays of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) when the leaves are just emerging. Very effective.
I'm a walking buffet for biting insects and have found Cutter's Natural Insect Repellent works well. No Deet and it smells nice.
gnaw
we all know black fly as we all know ticks…and there’s anew one out of Kansas prob from Chinese BioLabs (CBL)
So what do I know beyond serving up the relevant hyperlinks ?
Search: black fly Torch Lake…
NOT
black fly Michigan
black fly torch lake
a priori humor, no ?
beyond humor insects are often ‘overlooked’ - which is our ‘forte’ here - often derailing. Here in sunny Fla. when asked ‘where do we go’ if they’re going south, I go thru the bug counseling talk…roll thick socks over pants…buy headnet…how to use deet …do not spray deet on your child’s skin who will be wearing sunglasses off course…
mandatory humor.
reason I write back is the curiosity of reading strenuous objections to insect facts as during the recent slugfest on ticks in the NE where a posse showed up claiming there are no ticks in the NE.
now about the brown recluse spiders in Cleveland…
Dawn
and WD-40 is best.
blackflies aren’t a problem there
I don’t need to google it, I’ve been there.
not a problem bro
Mosquitoes? Yes.
Absolutely not
Soap and water is 100% effective. No need to add anything else.
dude
The UP is hours away from Torch Lake. Why won’t you believe people that live there and spend a lot of time there?
We stayed and paddled in that area in
summer, and encountered no blackflies. Mosquitos were light to moderate, but quite manageable.
For that matter, we encountered no blackflies across the upper peninsula in summer, though swimming in (cold) Lake Superior, we encountered another kind of biting fly.
Blackflies tend to be an early season problem up there, and taper off by mid summer. We’ve been all around Lake Superior and had no problem with them, in summer. On a Quetico trip starting in early July, we did have blackfly problems for the first week.
no black fly ?
any venereal disease ?
poison oak ?
Poison oak we see more in the West.
As for venerable diseases, at my age they are inevitable.
drove thru
twice ! place is jammed with people, DENSE !
good. stay in florida.
you have clearly
Never been there. It’s busy about three weekends a year.
leaving Florida
caws the place is jammed with UP tourists. I wuz out at Canaveral National Seashore early Sunday: cool, brisk sea breeze, cold water.
There’s a 4WD Ford 150 with MI plates in the long lot…and I.
Up on the beach walk I see 3 sunk poles in pipes…no fisherman.
Waaay down the beach there’s a…YES ! the Ford man is wading around the quiet zone near naked.
I WAS THERE !
during immediate post Indian Summer. The area was deserted. Except for black flies dragging road kill off the country road.
Whatever those were, they were not
what the rest of us call black flies. Black flies are an early season phenomenon, long gone by “indian summer”.
Michigan
Both sides of my family have roots in Michigan. I lived there as a small child and spent every summer there through until college, then moved there and first started kayak touring (as well as extensively camping, hiking and canoeing) from 1996 to 2004. Never, ever encountered black flies but definitely mosquitos in the Lower Peninsula. High water table and lots of marshy land and stagnant water there. I did get bitten a few times by horse flies, though.
I do agree there is not much in the way of “remote” wild areas in the lower P. The whole state is a half mile grid of roads, also is the state with the highest per capita ownership of cottages and motorized recreational vehicles. But there are some nice waters. Overall the state is way too flat for my tastes.