Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mosquitos and other ?s from a 1st-time backpacker

Hi there,
My wife and I are planning to backpack to Trail Camp on July 1 and then make the summit on July 2. I have had a lot of my questions answered by reading others' posts, but a few remain....

1. From pictures I've seen in recent weeks, it looks like crampons and an ice ax are NOT needed. Correct?

2. How are the mosquitos now at Portal, along the trail and at Trail Camp? Will we need bug nets?

3. What's a good time to leave Trail Camp on the summit day? I understand if we leave too early, the snow might still be icy. Leave too late, and we may not make if back to Portal before dark.

4. How should we leave our tent/packs at Trail Camp when we go up to the summit -- opened or closed? I obviously have a bear canister for the food that will be far away from camp, but I'm just wondering how to keep the marmots away from ripping up our tent & packs.

Thanks so much for the answers. I'll post a trip report upon my return.

Just good footwear should be sufficient on the entire route.

I sometimes tuck a light head net in some corner of my pack just in case or if you rather not use repellent on your face. But bring DEET. The mosquitoes are out but not a menace. Bring Preparation H (smallest tube) to dab the bites of the ones that get through. Bring a hooded jacket for the evenings/mornings. Wear heavy long socks while in camp to discourage the critters who are into ankles.

From trail camp figure on 4-6 hours to get up there. But an early start is practical. If its icy, just enjoy the scenery or read a book for a bit. If not you will have more time to fly a kite from up there. You want to plan to be off the top noonish or earlier if clouds are forming. EACH bring a head lamp. It is not a bad walk in the dark if you have to. A lot of summit trips start out in the dark. Why not finish in the dark?

Leave your pack outside with all pockets unzipped and available to the curious. If they want to get in there, they will and it can be expensive. So make it easy. Pack your tent if you want to be ready to get on the run to the bottom. This will give the next person in line a chance to set up camp if you are delayed or they are early. You really don't have to hide the canister that far away. Most savvy bears will not spend the time on a cannister.

Be sure you bring a hat (with a chin string), UV protection, UV chap stick, sun glasses. You could end up being a crispy critter if not careful.

Thanks Steve!

Anyone else want to weigh in?

1. correct
2. You will want some way to deal with the bugs. nets are not required, but DEET is.
3. earlier is better than later. 6 is probably a good time. The snow conditions are unlikely to be a big issue at this point.
4. There are advocates for both open and closed. The key is not having food about. If you don't, it is likely not an issue.
personally, I keep it all inside my tent. Others do not.
BTW, it is a real pleasure to be able to jump into the tent for a short nap out of the sun, upon return to TC.

Deet is a must but I also like the Buzz Off clothing.It is treated with a repellant that works amazingly well.No need to keep reapplying Deet. I have Buzz Off longsleave shirt, pants and scarf.Good stuff.

Rodney, that is Permethrin, and as far as I'm concerned, it is a wonder chemical. Totally safe, repels, and even kills bugs.
Here is a thread talking about it, and other things:

bug talk

That is right. Thanks Ken. I just wasn't sure about the spelling and didn't want to butcher it...lol. And I was too lazy to look it up. You are correct it is wonderful and safe stuff. I definately like wearing Permethrin treated clothing than constanly applying Deet.Both are good together though.

I don't know anyone who likes wearing DEET.

While it is demonstrably safe, the oily nature of it is generally unpleasant to wear, and collects dirt.

However, nothing works better on the skin.

The great thing about Permethrin, is it seems to provide a turbo-boost effect to DEET, such that I find that I use vastly less, perhaps 1/10th, except in the most God-awful situations.

It's bad enough hiking, but when I'm doing trailwork, it is a sanity saver.

I treat my hiking clothes with military grade permethrin (40% instead of the 0.5% you can buy in a spray can - found it on ebay). What mosquitoes? Bugs leave the general vicinity where you or the treated clothes are located. I still bring strong DEET as a backup but rarely ever use it.

If you carry DEET, put it inside a HD Ziplock. Otherwise, leakage can damage expensive fabrics, like Gortex. Doesn't take much of it to cause damage, either.

Haven't used Permethrin yet, but have heard good things about it. Regardless of which you use, or both, I'd suggest not putting any on until/unless you actually need the stuff. Many times you can avoid biting critters by simply keeping on the move.

Climbed 6/28/08

Crampons and ice axe are not needed, however if you leave trail camp early you will encounter some small patches of ice on the 99 switchbacks. Just be careful and you'll be just fine. Treking polls made it much easier to cross. We left trail camp for the summit at 4am with headlamps and it was the most beautiful part of the summit hike. The sky was illuminated with stars!
Mosquitos are all along the trail all the way up to the tree line (Between Outpost and trail camps) and nothing works better than Deet. We stayed at Outpost one night and was getting eaten alive until we busted out the Deet, they didn't even think twice about landing on you. No skeeters at Trail Camp.
About marmots,... before we left for the summit we packed everything up except the tent. We left the tent slightly open with absolutely nothing in it. I'm sure they peeked in and found nothing so they left. I'm also sure that if we decided to leave stuff in the tent they would have probably sniffed around and hung out for a while and left some pee and poop.
I would definitely put any smelly items in the canister so they are not tempted to eat through your pack or anything.
Leave your pack somewhat open too so it makes it easier if they do want to look in it.

I recorded our exact travel times, hopefully this will help you plan your travel. We are average hikers that keep a slow but steady pace and were being passed by most people.

Portal --> Outpost: 2:47
Outpost --> Trail Camp: 2:41
Trail Camp --> Trail Crest: 2:49
Trail Crest --> Summit: 1:47
Summit --> Trail Crest: 1:45
Trail Crest --> Trail Camp: 1:31
Trail Camp --> Outpost: 1:41
Outpost --> Portal: 2:02


Oh, and by the way, bring SPF 4,000,000 sunscreen, on your summit day you'll be cooked by being exposed for so long.
Have fun!