I am off to the island starting the week of August 3, and having been over several times in prior years during August have never ran into bug problems. That is nice, cause that means I can leave the bug shirt and extra bug dope at home. However, last week I had a friend backpack at Pukaskwa Provincial Park near Marathon and he said the bugs were really bad. Like IR June trip/hide in your tent/max deet bad. The Rangers there said they had a super wet spring and summer, which is causing the bug issue. Knowing Pukaskwa is directly east of IR, that caused me to wonder if things were similiar on the island. Anyone who has been there in the past week or two willing to give an update? It would be greatly appreciated
Sorry I'm posting this too late to help you, but it might help others. We just got back from a McCargo to Chippewa canoe trip that hit all of the inland lakes between the two. On the McCargo side of the Island we didn't have much problem with bugs. There were some flies on Chickenbone Lake but they were just buzzing around and landing on our hats and not biting. There were some pesky mosquitoes, but nothing a bit of repellent wouldn't deter. Intermediate Lake, during the day, had quite a few mosquitoes that were aggressive and would find that spot you missed spraying (ie. up in your shorts) and take advantage of it. Wood Lake and Chippewa were not bad (a few during the day -with more in the shade), but at night a good head net with a draw string was required. They were very thick and seemed to be worse after the bright sunny days, but not as bad on the overcast cooler days. Hope that helps. We used Repel Lemon Eucalyptus (deet free) Bug Spray and it worked well.
