A friend of mine and his group will be attempting to summit Whitney via the MT as a dayhike on Aug 6. I've never done the MT that early, so don't know the answer to his question, which is: Should we be concerned enough with mosquitoes anywhere on the trail to warrant bringing bug repellent? Since my ventures on Whitney have always been late Aug - early-mid September, I've not personally had any problems with the little blood-suckers!
CaT
Bring the bug juice. Little suckers can be really bad down low around the seeps, the falls below Lone Pine Lake, and Outpost.
I was there this last weekend, they were pretty thick morning and evening.
We are climbing on Aug 5th!
We are going to plan on bringing some. (Some being 'bug spray')
Always better to be prepared and not need it, than to need it and not be prepared.
Good luck!
Regarding bug spray, pay attention to these posts:
Re: Solo Whitney 7/11-7/12
Just got back from the MWT yesterday. The mosquito's were fairly heavy even a ways up the switchbacks past Trail Camp. Apparently mosquitos don't get AMS!
We used the Coleman 100 MAX unscented insect repellent. Comes in the very small and light .5 fluid oz container. Just sprayed it on our hands and rubbed a very light coat all over. It was very light and dried non-sticky. My kids are VERY susceptible to bites, and the critters seemed to leave them alone, except at the end of the third day when we should have put on a second coat after sweating it all off. You could see the skeeters fly up to us and then head for a different victim when they sensed the repellent.
It is 98.11% DEET, so the stuff does work as the other posters have said.
Same here 3skid3 - at about 13,000 feet last week I was still swatting the damn things. Quillansculpture and I took a long rest break at the water crossing by Outpost Camp on the way down - we hadn't lathered up in a while, and the little SOBs just about ate us alive.
When we camped at Consultation Lake overnight we used reasonably strong Deet and they seemed to leave us alone - mostly, anyway.
One word-permethrin.
It can turn an ordeal into a pleasure, and minimize the need for supplemental DEET (or Picardin, which I now often use)
I bought a bottle of Cutter Advanced (picaridin) spray at REI last year. By the time I got done reading the directions for use, precautions, and disposal instructions on the back of the bottle, I decided I didn't want to expose my body to the stuff. If you use it and haven't read it, I recommend you do so. I have my reservations about the safety of DEET, but it's been around for a long time and hasn't been proven to be a major health risk that I'm aware of.