Post by Tim on Jan 19, 2018 12:28:40 GMT -5
Mosquitoes in Alaska? The thought never crossed my mind when upon completing my strategic air defense systems tech school at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi I got my orders to serve a year in Alaska.
I first sensed something was odd when after completing the course in Arctic Indoctrination at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage I was given a large duffel bag full of special winter clothing that included a personal mosquito net. I thought, what in the world is this for?
Last minute diversion orders had me going to the King Salmon Norad Control Center at the mouth of Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska instead of the horrifically desolate radar station at Cape Lisburne in the extreme northwest corner of the state. Oh what a relief I thought!
Well, yes it was a relief to some degree but the far southwest of the Alaska mainland was still desolate being the nearest paved road was 250 miles away, there was no television, and only one military radio station. The only notable difference was that we had a larger installation with more varied jobs to do, and we weren't in the Arctic. But ... we were most definitely in the tundra. Tundra, tundra, everywhere and when spring arrived - holy cow - billions and billions of mosquitoes!
Tundra is amazing terrain. When it thaws in spring it's like walking on a thick soft carpet of multi-colored shredded sponges. Your feet sink into the ground and the ground itself is pockmarked with countless indentations (or potholes.) You can walk but you can't really run on it because you'd likely stumble and fall down. And every one of those countless little dips, now soaked from the spring thaw, breeds mosquitoes.
At the start, the mosquitoes are so thick it would be suicidal to go out without a net but as the months pass it thins out. Of course birds eat them but another enemy they have is another even more devilish biting insect (whose name now escapes me) that devours them. The best season is fall when the bugs have thinned out enough to no longer use a net and it's not yet cold enough for heavy gear.
Should you ever visit Alaska, be sure to go in late summer or fall, never in spring or early summer!
I first sensed something was odd when after completing the course in Arctic Indoctrination at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage I was given a large duffel bag full of special winter clothing that included a personal mosquito net. I thought, what in the world is this for?
Last minute diversion orders had me going to the King Salmon Norad Control Center at the mouth of Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska instead of the horrifically desolate radar station at Cape Lisburne in the extreme northwest corner of the state. Oh what a relief I thought!
Well, yes it was a relief to some degree but the far southwest of the Alaska mainland was still desolate being the nearest paved road was 250 miles away, there was no television, and only one military radio station. The only notable difference was that we had a larger installation with more varied jobs to do, and we weren't in the Arctic. But ... we were most definitely in the tundra. Tundra, tundra, everywhere and when spring arrived - holy cow - billions and billions of mosquitoes!
Tundra is amazing terrain. When it thaws in spring it's like walking on a thick soft carpet of multi-colored shredded sponges. Your feet sink into the ground and the ground itself is pockmarked with countless indentations (or potholes.) You can walk but you can't really run on it because you'd likely stumble and fall down. And every one of those countless little dips, now soaked from the spring thaw, breeds mosquitoes.
At the start, the mosquitoes are so thick it would be suicidal to go out without a net but as the months pass it thins out. Of course birds eat them but another enemy they have is another even more devilish biting insect (whose name now escapes me) that devours them. The best season is fall when the bugs have thinned out enough to no longer use a net and it's not yet cold enough for heavy gear.
Should you ever visit Alaska, be sure to go in late summer or fall, never in spring or early summer!