Highline Trail - Insects in May

[sajor75]

Hi everyone, im planning to hike the Highline trail around mid May, anyone know what is the average weather and how bad are the creepy crawlies and mosquitos in the month that i will be hiking, I plan to use a tarp as shelter I have a bivy but would like to replace it with a bugnet or better yet no bugnet or bivy and just use sawyer permithrin , or is that to adventurous lol. Thanks.

[ALMAL]

http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=449868

You should be fine without the bug net. Temps? Who knows...

[sajor75]

@ALMAL
Nice, did you sleep with no bug protection at all, is that your complete sleeping set up, what season did you do this hike and what was the temperature. Thanks.

[rcorfman]

I took three days to hike from the Hatchery Trailhead to the Pine Trailhead from May 26-28, 2013. I cowboy camped at Bonita Creek and Webber Creek. Bugs weren't an issue. There was plenty of water. Temps were nice. It was cool in the mornings. Don't worry about bugs.

[ljcygnet]

I live a half mile from the Highline on Ellison Creek.

Plenty of weird bugs up here, so if you're generally scared of bugs I can't offer much consolation there. (Though, I haven't seen any of the giant hissing beetles yet, the flies aren't too bad this year, and it's too early for tarantulas.)

If mosquitoes are the concern, just camp away from water or tall grass and use your bug spray. I never bother with a bug spray even during the monsoon. There are mosquitoes and annoying biting noseeums, but they aren't that bad.

The noseeums like bare feet and ankles. Wear long socks and long pants. They do not seem deterred by bug spray.

Watch for snakes. They ARE out.

Weather is highly unpredictable this time of year. It could SNOW (it did May 17th of last year -- we got three or four inches, though it was gone by noon) or it could be pushing 100 degrees. The exposed areas of the trail in the old burn will likely be pretty warm if the sun is out. Get a weather report just before you go, and be sure to bring warm clothes and a rain coat even if it seems like the weather will be nice. The Rim makes its own weather and sometimes it will storm here when everywhere else in the state is bone dry.

Wind and unexpected weather in general can be common issues at the base of the Rim. I wouldn't plan on using a tarp for a shelter because the winds can be pretty strong if a front comes through, though an enclosed bivvy should be fine.

Look up before you pick a campsite. Don't camp under a dead snag, or under tall/spindly live ponderosas. They have a habit of breaking if the wind kicks up.

If there's no fire ban, think twice about a fire anyway and be VERY careful about fire. See again about wind. It comes up unexpectedly. The chaparral burns like it's been sprayed with gasoline.

Bear bag your food in a sturdy fabric bag or bearproof container. Don't use a plastic trash bag as the ravens may rip it open. Bears usually run, but there have also been multiple attacks on people, so be careful

[sajor75]

@Ljcygnet, you just got me all concerned about thing I wasn't even worried about lol, Is there really a big Bear population on the highline trail, I thought hanging your food and using a bear canister was for places where their is big Bear population like the east coast and California, I didn't want to bring my 40 Smith n Wesson but you got me thinking now.

[big_load]

There are plenty of bears up on the Rim. You're a lot more likely to see them off-trail, especially in some of those big meadows. They seem more skittish than east coast bears. Apart from proper food storage, I wouldn't worry about them.

[joebartels]

If you survive the drive and camp smart it's highly unlikely you'll have trouble. So if you think you get hungry and irritable after not eating a meal then it's best not to sleep with your food or a hint of it nearby.
( oh boy here come the naysayers )

- the average dog’s sense of smell is 100 times better than a humans
- a blood hound’s is 300 times better
- a bear’s sense of smell is 7 times better than a blood hound’s or 2,100 times better than a human

source: http://sectionhiker.com/bears_sense_of_smell/

...it's a lot easier to run from bears if you cowboy camp
source: wild guess

[ALMAL]

With the bears, spiders, snakes, mosquitoes, potential fire ban, and windy cold nighttime temps, that sounds like a miserable trip.
You should probably just day hike...

[sajor75]

Oh, im definatly still going lol, this will be my 1st long to me backpacking trip, this trip will condition me for upcomming thru hiking and going solo ill learn by experience.

[ljcygnet]

Re: Bears -- it's not a huge issue, just be bear aware and use common sense.

Like I said, I live a half mile from the Highline on Ellison Creek. There are bears around -- I've found bear scat within a hundred feet of my front door. The vast, vast, majority of time, however, they run, and are way more scared of you than you are of them.

There HAVE been attacks in the last several years in this area, though, so just be careful. Bag your food, don't set up camp in the middle of a blackberry patch (not an issue in May anyway) or near a water source, and you'll probably be just fine.

There are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of visitors up here. None of the bear attacks resulted in fatalities. There's several traffic fatalities a month on the highways around here. The drive up is more dangerous. *shrug*

Bag your food, though, please. Last thing we need is a bear learning it can get food from people and losing fear of people. As soon as a bear learns that, it's a dead bear. Plus, *I* don't want to step out my front door and run into a bear that has lost its fear because it's learned people mean food.

[ljcygnet]

I just saw that this was your first long hike -- have you done any stretches of the Highline, particularly some of the middle sections out in the burn that haven't been maintained in decades? I would consider it an intermediate to difficult hike depending on the weather. (Difficult if it snows or if it gets socked in with cold rain and high winds!) Not one I'd recommend for a beginner long solo hike.

It's supposed to rain this weekend, FYI, and be VERY windy.

[sajor75]

@ljcygnet
I will take a map, compass and last resort i have the complete trail loaded up on my gps in my android phone, last week i drove to the 260 trail head, ofcourse i did not even walk 1 mile in, just went to get a feel for it , the path looked pretty visible, are there no marks along the trail that tell you if your on the right path similar to General Crook trail. Any suggestions on what to do if come in contact with a bear or any big animal in the woods, read that posing bigger than you are and making loud noises is a good option, never play dead.

[SuperstitionGuy]

Any suggestions on what to do if come in contact with a bear or any big animal in the woods,

Grab your camera as fast as you can because they historically disappear before you can get their picture. However if you see a mother bear with her cubs, stand perfectly still and just speak to her with a kind a soft voice so that she knows your there. They are only interested in taking their cubs away from anything they consider a threat.

[Tough_Boots]

have you done any stretches of the Highline, particularly some of the middle sections out in the burn that haven't been maintained in decades?

I'm assuming you're talking about the section between Washington and Myrtle. Its in much better shape now than it was a few years ago. There's definitely been some work put into it. The only confusion now is because of too many ribbons.

[ljcygnet]

I @sajor75
The highline can be hard to follow in some areas. It gets tangled up with game trails in some areas, and elk will go places a human would prefer not ...

As far as bears go, you want to make sure you do not sneak silently through the woods and surprise one. I wear jingly keys on my belt when I'm hiking, which should be sufficient, but you can also talk or sing or wear a bell or figure out another way to make noise.

Don't camp on a game trail, or very close to the Highline -- the Highline is the local animal highway up there, and you will see lots of game tracks in the middle of it. Camping on a trail is a good way to end up with cows walking through the middle of your camp in the middle of the night, and occasionally more exotic animals.

[ljcygnet]

Oh, the Highline is not real well marked in spots. There are flags put up yearly for the Mogollon race, but the problem is that there's too many of them, as Tough Boots noted. The more traveled sections are better marked with actual trail signs. Sometimes you will see old trail diamonds nailed to trees, too, even out in the burn, but you need a sharp eye to spot them.

It is, however, relatively hard to get completely lost simply because you're following the Rim and it's somewhat hard to lose the Rim. The issue is simply that if you lose the trail you end up bushwhacking through some gnarly rough country until you find it again. Trust me, you do not want to bushwhack in this country.

[Sredfield]

I first hiked the Highline in the late 90's. The first night we camped we heard an elk bugling as we set up camp. "Oh how exciting!"

Then we saw the first bull, and heard him bugling much closer--even more exciting.

By morning we were concerned that we'd be trampled! They came through camp, snorting and bugling and generally acting like crazy guys looking for love, which is exactly what goes on with them every fall.

[ljcygnet]

@Sredfield
You know how I learned not to camp on game trails?

I set up camp on a game trail, and had an elk run between my sleeping bag and my fire in the middle of the night.

Don't camp on trails.

(That was in Chevelon, not along the Rim, but same principle.)

In late summer, when the rut starts but the hunting hasn't, the elk get particularly bold. That time of year, at dusk, I can actually go out and find the local herds around here within about twenty minutes, and then sit and watch them. Fun watching the babies.

[chumley]

@ljcygnet
sounds like a pretty compelling reason TO camp on trails.