Lost Lake, Mount Hood
Normally I’d have a few more photos from a hike, but yesterday I came back with eight. And twice as many mosquito bites. And as many black fly bites.
I forgot my bug spray in a hiking season known for particularly bad bugs.
Hiking from the car to around the lake I used my bandanna as a horse tail, twitching and flicking, as incessant as the mosquitoes. We cut to the path that lead to the Pacific Coat Trail, our ultimate goal Buck Peak several miles out. (Lost Lake is a very popular camping and day use area and we wanted to get away from the crowds.)
But it got to be too much and we turned back to go to the small store in the populated campground. Luckily we starting talking to a trio of lake loopers who traded us Jungle Juice for a plastic trash bag and we set back up the trail. But even with the repellent the mosquitoes swarmed our faces and it was just too aggravating to go on. Not to mention that Jungle Juice doesn’t keep black flies from biting.
Even my hiking buddy was bothered by the mosquitoes, and she is usually nonplussed by them. (I am a magnet.)
It was so aggravating I just about cried in frustration at one point. I saw a cool frog (may he gorge himself silly) and couldn’t even stop long enough to take a picture or even admire him as much as I wanted to. Thankfully a breeze came up when we got back to the lakeside and were able to sit for lunch and admire fish jumping out of the water (may they gorge themselves silly).
Ugh.
It’s humiliating to be stopped by bugs.
We got six miles of hiking in. Yet I had to concentrate on what a gorgeous place this is unless there was a breeze.
Indian Heaven is out. That place is always buggy, so I can’t imagine what it will be like this year. Egads.
Tsuga mertensiana (Mountain Hemlock)
PS. I moved the bug spray sitting on my kitchen counter directly into my back pack.
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it’s beautiful.
help me get close to it when i come in november? :)
You are *SO* on. :-)
(Enthusiasm!!!! That’s me.)
Gorgeous pics! But the bugs would ruin it for me, too. I swear they come swarming for me from within a 40-mile radius, while my husband gets not one bite.
I am just sure this problem of ours has some kind of silver lining, but it may not be known in our lifetime.
and i always forget to keep my mouth closed until i’ve tasted a swarm of gnats.
enjoyed this post, it’s wonderful to see mount hood again !
sherry
Hey, Sherry. Isn’t that the truth? I huff & puff quite a bit, too, so it’s a danger. ;-)
sounds like you had a frustrating hike at best, i’m sorry but, the views are gorgeous. maybe next time the bugs won’t be so prevalent and you’ll get more hiking in. have a great night.
We might have to avoid water hikes until September. Oy! And I do like water with my hikes.
Lost Lake is a primo spot. I’m lucky it’s in the “‘hood.” ;-)
Jungle Juice was a popular children’s drink here when mine were small. It came in sachets of powder that were stirred into water to dissolve. It would have been very sweet and sticky if rubbed on the skin, and would probably attract bugs rather than repel them :) (I guess product names are different in the US!)
I hope you get a great hike in soon, without the bugs.
That’s funny, Catherine. We had Kool-Aid, and it *was* a bug magnet. :-)
looks like a lovely place, shame the bugs are so bad
Thanks, Crafty. It’s a jewel.
I also have a mosquito net (bought to take to Alaska 8 years ago). I should stuff that in my pack.
I guess this wasn’t really the time to post my praise of Oregon mosquitoes, huh?
The scars will heal. ;-) xoxox