Is bug spray needed on the Whitney Trail? Just wondering how voracious the biters are!

I'm camping at Trail Camp, and hanging out at Horseshoe Meadow for acclimatisation.

YES! Don't leave home without it! Everywhere in the Eastern Sierra has a lot of mosquitos just now. Use the strongest repellant you can find. I was up the North Fork of Bishop Creek today and ran into clouds of the little devils. Same conditions exist on the JMT.

wow, ok, I hadn't realised! Thanks!

Just don't give them mossies any Viagra!

Haha! They would probably love it if people were toking Viagra, because everyone would have more free-flowing blood!! Mosquito buffet! (presumably??)

Get the 99% DEET and USE IT. On our way to the west chute of Cloudripper about a week and a half ago I ended up with 51 mosquito bites despite the fact that I was wearing long sleeves and pants.

Be sure to take along some Trader Joe's Tea Tree Oil. It works wonders for my wife and me when we get MOABd by mossies. A little dab will do ya.

Just an 'after trip' comment from me - there were hardly any bugs - don't bother with bug spray.

But that's because we camped at 'consolation' lake.

There were bugs at Outpost Camp, where we stopped for lunch, but they weren't the 'cover your body in deet' variety.

I've lived in the tropics, so I usually won't go near DEET unless it's tropical levels of bad.

In my mind, it's not worth it, as even a small bottle of leaking DEET will completely ruin your entire pack - it eats through plastic.

There were just a few mosquitos on 8/14 but unless you are camping I don't think any chemical is warranted. I normally get bit to heck but no bites this time.