Plans
Wednesday, July 5th, 2006we went backpacking this past weekend. both brenda and i were really excited for our trip to the flat tops wilderness, but in the end we cut the trip short. we had planned on staying out three days and two nights, but the ‘wildlife’ cut it short for us.
on the hike up the river valley we notice there were quite a few mosquitos and biting flies, but if we kept moving they werent too bad, and we both thought that as we got up on top of the plateau they would be much better. usually the colder air and limited water makes for a better buggy situation. well, the flies did disappear pretty quickly as we climbed, but the mosquitos got worse and worse.
by the time we reached the top where we set up camp, we werent even able to stand still without thousands of the buggers flying around and landing on us. in the end, we set up the tent and spent almost 14 consecutive hours inside while the constant whine of the bloodsuckers continued just outside the mesh. we got up at 630 the next morning hoping to catch them still sluggish and sleeping, but somehow they must have caught wind of our plans. its amazing we didnt leave anything behind; that was the most frantic breaking of camp ive ever done.
brenda’s bites number somewhere in the triple digits and mine are about half that. we do plan on going back, but not until it dries out a bit there and cools down, hopefully killing some of them.
ill post some pictures on a future post.
-b