Another Swat in the Park

Itchy visitors agree — this year, mosquitoes make rules at Yosemite.

by Diane Marcum
Fresno Bee - July 18, 2005

Judging by the swat test, Mark Papanek of Sacramento figures this is not the most mosquitoes he's ever seen in Yosemite.

He remembers years when he was a search and rescue volunteer when he'd accidentally snort in mosquitoes and could annihilate 50 of the little buggers with one slap of his large, beefy palm.

But sitting in a porch rocking chair at Curry Village, his bumpy bitten legs stretched in front of him, Papanek, 50, swore he had never seen so many mosquitoes this time of year.

"This being July for there to be so many mosquitoes is just wrong," he said, estimating he had 100 bites. A quick count of itchy welts from knee to toe on his left leg totaled 26, backing up his overall estimate.

After being attacked by mosquitoes on a rafting trip in Yosemite National Park, Jose Alonso sprays himself with bug repellent as his wife, Jennifer, watches. Darrell Wong / The Fresno Bee

The grandeur of nature, the capriciousness of sun and snow and rain shapes each season differently. This year, a heavier-than-normal snowpack has sent powerful waterfalls crashing over once-dry granite, filled rivers, closed the park for one day because of flooding, and on the minute end of the scale, hatched buzzing, biting mosquitoes that love puddles of standing water.

Or at least, there seem to be more mosquitoes at peak season, when there's more flesh to dig into.

The National Park Service denies any unusual mosquito problem. Park visitors and residents, however, are telling another story.

"The mosquitoes seem to target European tourists who don't have any immunity. They come in with huge welts. They think it's just part of the adventure, but it looks painful," said Yosemite park ranger Ken Watson.

Watson knows mosquitoes. He once worked in the Everglades where dead mosquitoes were a familiar motif on most walls. When he worked for the Forest Service in the Yosemite area, he used to take rain gear on camping trips to wear on hot summer evenings to fend off swarms.

But even he has noted a bigger mosquito problem this year.

"These are the kind that sit down for a steak at dinner," he said.

As for mosquito numbers, Watson, too, turns to the swat test.

"I think the record this year is 12 in one swat," he said.

The mosquitoes likely are not carrying West Nile virus, a disease that's on many itchy tourists' minds, judging by the questions they ask at the visitors centers. No dead birds with the disease, an indicator the virus has arrived in an area, have been found in Yosemite. But dead birds with West Nile have been found in Merced and the Lake Tahoe area.

West Nile virus was first isolated in Uganda in 1937 and appeared in the United States in 1999. Starting in New York, it spread westward. This year, cases of humans with the disease have been reported in Kings, Tulare and Fresno counties.

But, even beyond worries of disease, the mosquitoes are driving people up the wall. They're even biting climbers when they're on the wall.

Adam Eichholtz, 23, was holding the rope for another climber last week when mosquitoes covered his arms.

"I'm telling myself, 'If I let go of this rope, my friend could die' and still it was hard not to swat. It was just insane. I was completely covered," he said.

Eventually, another climber came by, and noticing Eichholtz's place on the food chain, sprayed him with DEET, a mosquito repellent.

"I usually stay away from the chemicals. I'm a biochemistry major, and we use what's in DEET to dissolve compounds, but this time I was, 'Oh yeah, spray away.' "

To DEET or not to DEET was the main topic of conversation at the Curry Village bar where climbers were relaxing on a July afternoon.

"I heard it can burn through plastic," said Genny Goldsher, a bartender with matching mosquito bites on each temple.

But sales of repellent within the park would suggest the pro-DEET crowd is larger.

All the stores in Yosemite carry products with the chemical DEET in various percentages and oil of lemon eucalyptus products, which are considered a more natural alternative.

"One-hundred percent DEET is the biggest seller by far," said Christy Contreras, manager at the Wawona General Store.

Then there are those who turn to other remedies altogether.

Darlene Halton, of Delta, Mo., in Yosemite for a family reunion, had fabric softener sheets sticking out of her shorts pockets and tucked underneath a baseball cap.

"They're supposed to keep the mosquitoes away," said a mosquito-bump-covered Halton.

Rob Ginieczki, travel guide author and teacher from Pennsylvania, stood in a damp field across from El Capitan, his mostly bared body apparently free of mosquito bites.

He attributed his skin's smoothness to eating a lot of garlic, and after four days of rock climbing, skipping a few baths.

"Garlic and not as much bathing," he said. "It helps with the mosquitoes. But people sometimes look at you funny."

Visitors Thursday enjoy Sentinel Beach in Yosemite National Park, dubbed the Mosquito Coast. Mosquitoes along the Merced River have caused some to turn to fabric softener sheets, Benadryl and DEET for relief. Darrell Wong / The Fresno Bee

This year in Yosemite Valley, tourists are calling Sentinel Beach, an idyllic spot where rafters floating down the Merced River often come to shore, the Mosquito Coast.

"Be careful if you go there," said Amy Halton of Minden, Nev. "I'd show you all my bites, if I could drop my pants."

At Sentinel Beach on Thursday afternoon, the relatives of Jose Alonso waited by their rafts for him to return from an emergency trip to get Benadryl, an inflammation-reducing antihistamine.

"He showed the bus driver his back, and the bus driver took one look and said, 'Get on.' He didn't even charge him," said Jose's wife, Jennifer Alonso. "He's covered with huge welts. These mosquitoes, they were like juicer than usual. Like they'd had a few bites before him."

When Jose Alonso returned, he did indeed look like a man who'd had a whipping that left marks. He grabbed a borrowed can of DEET and sprayed it around his head, under his arms and behind his knees.

A group of rafters from North Hills Church in Brea walked up from the bank of the river.

Hard numbers on the mosquito population might not be available, but the group, in Yosemite for a week to put on a vacation Bible school for park employees' children, had numbers of their own:

The group of 25 went through 32 cans of repellent, trying all the different varieties, six different brands of after-bite relief, and a tube of a toothache reliever that they'd heard could help relieve mosquito bite pain.

"Nothing worked," said Brittany Cromelin, 17. "But if you need to get paint off tables, DEET works great. We used it on acrylic paint the kids were using for a project, and the paint washed right off."

The member of the group with the most bites, according to a communal shout, was 16- year-old Jessica Uranga. She had 48 bites on just her left foot, a count made with two friends double-checking her.

Scott Purpura, 13, claimed he had more. But he said he'd just been too busy having fun to stop and count: "You have to keep moving or you'll notice you're itching.