Upper Peninsula Michigan
Worst ever for me was paddling on the Manistique River in the UP. The deer flies were unbearable. If you didn’t paddle you made it no where and were bitten. If you paddled, you sweated and they bit you more. It was pure hell. We contemplated trying to float in the water (below the surface) the rest of the trip.
Northern Canada
Mosquitoes and horseflies along the Peace River and up the Athabasca River in northern Canada during last years cross Canada solo trip. Those bugs were insane!
The UP of Michigan
While going up to the The Two hearted River in the month of May…when there should still be freezing temptures…we had the A/C on and the bugs where so bad. We ended up camping on the north coast and just anchoring off the beach in Lake Superior, the cold water kept them at bay.
Slept in the van then in the morning ran asap down to the Lower MI. and paddled the Pidgen River. Where late at night the bugs cam out…but they where tollerable
Island Park, Green River, UT, June 2005
No mosquitos the entire rest of the trip until we arrived at camp in the Island Park area. The second we hit the beach we were swarmed by skeeters…DEET resistant mosquitos! Nothing repelled them. It was all we could do was set up our tents and sit in them and sweat. We didn’t even come out to cook a meal. Even used our nalgene bottles to pee in. Fortunately it got cool in the night and we had a little reprieve. We were up before dawn to load the boats and get out of there! We launched just as the sun peaked over the horizon and the mosquitos came out right on cue. Nothing like running your first Class III rapid of the day at 6:30 AM!!
Brown Recluse
– Last Updated: Jan-18-06 2:17 AM EST –
I was bitten by one of these little %@#*&^ while on a kayak trip. It got me on the top of the foot and after the pain I had the aches and pains all over the next day, like when your getting the flu , they went away after the second night. I got a nasty swelling that turned really red then black and seeped till it formed an ulcer the size of a qaurter. after a month it went away and left a black spot that is still there.
I loved walking around with a wrapped up foot in a sock , in a shoe.
My doctor never saw a brown recluse bite before and gave me swelling meds as well as anti biotics and pain meds. as well as several follow up visits because my doc was worried as to how this would come out.
Always look in your boat before you hop in after a shore stop, I wish I had.
The Brown Recluse
Probably came from your home.
Brian
Stung by a scorpion
– Last Updated: Feb-03-06 8:59 PM EST –
I was stung in the right thigh by a scorpion at the age of ten. I was fishing on top of a log that had fallen across Cypress Creek (a tributary of the Hillsborough River near Tampa, FL). I was miles from my house and the only companion with was my white german shepard, Prince. Although I was sick and delirious for three days he stayed with me. By the forth day I was able to hobble eight miles with a swollen leg back home. It stayed that way for over a month. Now that I'm older and a little more aware of my surroundings at all times it's never happened again(knock on wood). Here in Florida people fret over gators, crocs and snakes but the bugs that can seriously hurt you as well: black, brown and red widows; brown recluses; scorpions; etc... I'm just glad the candiru catfish don't live in these waters.
no-seeums
Back in the early 70s dad and I were fishing with a guide in the back country out of Key West. We both needed to go, so the guide droped us on a small mangrove island to take care of buisness and then moved off to wait. I suppose we should have suspected something when he backed off shore to wait but we had never experienced no-seeums before. About the time we dropped our pants and were getting down to buisness the swarms found us. Of corse we didn’t even understand what was happening at first because nether of us had even herd of no-seeums. I can honestly say that we did not kill John, but do believe it would have been clasified as justifiable homicide if we had.
Pat
deer flies
false cape state park virginia beach, va. has the remains of a setlment dating back to the 1800s.but trying to get to it during the summer is rough.the deer flies are as thick as the sand you are walking on.
This post has been going for a while!
Late 60’s, Bennitt Springs State Park near Lebanon MO. Camping but not sleeping in the back of a 1964 Ford station wagon with mom, dad and 3 brothers. It was hot, stiffling so. We had to have the windows down. The skeeters had their way with us all nite loooong. Just so dad could be in the water when the “start fishin whistle” blew. The place is a trout park where they stock the stream every night. I still have a bottle of the oily, chemical smelling repellent we used.
It was 6-12 brand. Probably pure liquified DDT!
Leningrad, mid 80s
It would have to be either in the dormitory for “kap-strantsy” (students from capitalist countries) where my roommate was KGB, or Hotel Sovietskaya, where you could see the bugs literally hanging out of the walls!
Cedar Key
Went down to scope out Cedar Key, FL. Very swampy area on the Gulf due South of Tallahassee.
Went out to an island area to find the original town of Cedar Key. Was warned that we wouldn’t get very far. We didn’t: Sand flies nearly ate us alive. We made it 200-300 feet from shore and had to turn back.
Those things were vicious.
Moose River, ME 2001
Running the Bow Trip with a group of friends over Memorial Day weekend seemed like a great plan. When we made it across the lakes and into the river to soon realized that the best camping sites were taken. We spent the first night at the appropriately named “Mosquito Rips”. We constantly wore headnets and bug jackets to keep the mosquitos from devouring us amongst the trees, and the blackflies from carrying us off the river. Laughingly, we ate, drank, and smoked cigars wearing our headnets.
In planning a trip remember this; when Moose are commonly sighted on the roads it’s not to be social, but due to hungry blackflies thick enough to drive a hairy 1200# animal insane…
Bear River, Utah
I was on the Bear about 5 miles south of Corinne, Utah. We have been canoeing for a long while when we decided to take a break on land…moments later, we were RUNNING to the canoe as swarms of hungry gnats, noseeums and mosquitos attacked. It was a virtual cloud covering us.
I have to say, I never paddled so hard as I did that day as I tried to escape. In the end, I had no less than fifty bug bites.
The only other place I have had it as bad was in the Boundary Waters years ago. The bugs were big and bad but I was well covered in repellant.
Mike
top three for me
3 places stand out for me regarding the bugs. the first would be the watson place campsite in the 10,000 islands region of the everglades. the sun went down, the wind died, and the mosquitoes arose from the mangroves in clouds! also in everglades national park, mormon key. no see ums coated my tent to where it appeared to be gray instead of green. absolutely miserable outside of the tent until the wind picked up and moved them back into the bush. lastly, gull rock gamelands campsite in eastern north carolina in early september near lake mattamuskeet. the salt marsh mosquitoes were every bit the rival of the swarms we saw in the everglades, and without the trade winds, were prevalent all day long! thank goodness for a bugtamer outfit. -harry
EVERGLADES!
We were at the southern end about the same time that the park closed for the season (why do they close for the season? BUGS!). Even the rangers go home, from what I understand.
I’ve never seen my mosquito net so covered w/ mosquitoes as that trip! Amazing and fascinating. There were also some very tenacious deer flies (yellow flies) that nipped at us and were not repelled by even the strongest application of DEET.
Still… a beautiful trip all & all…
brown recluse
sounds like a friend of mine who got bitten by one while mtn biking.
The Bloodvein River, Manitoba
– Last Updated: May-31-06 6:57 AM EST –
We were in the middle of our trip when a mosquito hatch occured. Prior to this we had a few but no major problems. Just the usual "witching hour" around sunset.
After the hatch any time we stopped for a break or portage we were engulfed by hungry hordes. Everyone broke out the DEET and head nets. At night they were particularily troublesome.
example:
It was a hot night. The kind where you strip down and lay naked, sweating in your tent. A light rain was falling. Around 3am I felt an urgent need to visit the bushes. In my skivvies I quickly opened the zipper and stepped out. I was instantly englufed in cloud of mosquitos. They were so thick I felt like I was wearing a fur coat, one that crawls, bites and stings.
I was driven mad. Heading for the nearest bush I dropped my drawers, s__t on myself, pee-d on my skivvies and ran almost screaming back to the tent. When I got back in I noticed the tent was full of hundreds of mosquitos.
I lit a small piece of Pic and waited for the inevitable. In the morning my sleeping bag looked like it was covered with poppy seeds.
redfeather
We went up to our prowler 5-th wheel 27 last weekend. And there are those stupid flies that look like bees.
the worst you’ve everbeen bugged
The worst we have ever been bugged was scuba diving at Sombraro Reef in the Florida keys…The Coast Guard was boarding every vessel tied to the mooring bouys and checking for “Safety Gear”
Must have been over 150 boats. Clearly a muscle flex…