Isle Royale Forums

Just got back from five days at Belle Isle and Rock Harbor. Figured I could share a bug report since it will be easy:

As of May 22nd, 2022, there are NO BUGS on Isle Royale, because it is FREAKING COLD.

I did see one very confused black fly trying to figure out its life in a Belle Isle biff but that was it.

Seriously though, it was a damp cold at Isle Royale the last few days. Dress warm!

Hopefully it's a little warmer but still no bugs when I do something similar the end of July .

Any chance you could confirm if you saw fuel for sale at Rock Harbor?

Did you see any piles of snow laying around?

rich wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 10:30 am Any chance you could confirm if you saw fuel for sale at Rock Harbor?

The Rock Harbor store was not open. There was no opening date posted either. There were boxes of merchandise stacked up in there, though.

treeplanter wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 11:27 am Did you see any piles of snow laying around?

Tons on the shore! Even an iceberg or two on the lake even.

Was on IR from June 18-21 and was expecting the worst but the bugs weren't all that bad. Used Picaridin, wore long sleeves and a head net which worked just fine. The mosquitos definitely made an appearance at our camp sites and on the Tobin Harbor trail but if you were by the shore with a breeze you were golden. Didn't see many black flies, only saw a very large amount of black flies at Moskey Basin. Was a great trip and will be back!

June 18-25 Minimum to no Mosquitos, Blackflies were rough at Lake Richie and Daisy.

July 18-25
Mosquitos were terrible on the whole east end of the Island. The most mosquitos I've seen anywhere in 15-20 years. Rock Harbor trail between Three Mile and Rock Harbor was about the only clear place.
Black flies in abundance at Moskey and Chippewa

Last week of July: Occasional mosquitos but nothing too bad. I did treat my clothes with Permetherin before the trip and that worked great.

Agree with JerryB. Used Picaridin most days, but not terrible. We were on the big lake, not inland, the whole trip.

Was mostly hiking inland two weeks ago and mosquitos were terrible for this late in summer. It has been a cool, wet summer and as of two weeks ago has yet to get hot enough to discourage mosquitos. They were also bad (considering the date) in the Boundary Waters last week.

Any reports as of now, for the west end of the island?

jerry wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:32 pm Any reports as of now, for the west end of the island?

I got eaten alive by mosquitos on the Feldtmann loop last week (Wednesday 8/17 to Sunday 8/21), but no one else I ran into seemed to be bothered by them. I had to put my head net on several times. I treated my clothes with permethrin, but was wearing short sleeves and in the evening I wore sandals around camp, so the bites were focused on my arms and ankles. I was pretty sweaty and the picardin I sprayed on each morning wore off pretty quickly. However, mosquitos always love me, so hopefully you'll fare better than me.

Thanks! I plan on long sleeves, gloves and head net. And hiking pants.