mosquitoes | The Crossing

The trail took me briefly across the Idaho border.

On Monday, I hit the trail again. It was a pleasant and scenic ride over Chief Joseph pass. I stopped at Big Hole Battlefield, and attended a presentation on the Indian battle there. It brought tears to my eyes.

I ended up in Wisdom that afternoon. That town of 160 held the record for having the most vicious mosquitoes.

Proverbs 3:13 “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom.” I found it, the town of Wisdom, MT ahead. The grass on the right is like the place across the store where I pitched my tent.

As I stood outside the general store, I could see the swarm converging on my unprotected areas. Immediately, I put on repellent. It didn’t help. Three of them bit right through my clothes.

When I resupplied at Wisdom Market, I asked the storekeeper what the deal was with all the mosquitoes. “What mosquitoes?” was his reply. The locals didn’t seem to get bitten. Fetty’s Burger Barn is to the right.

I went into the bathroom, took off everything, and doused myself heavily with repellent. I even thought about getting a motel room. But no, I remembered the adage, “comfort is an inconvenience.”

I ate dinner at the Pioneer Mountain Company. Fancy food and fancy prices.

Over in the city park, I set up my tent quickly. The repellent seemed to be working, but the little biters kept swarming, hoping to find a window in my defense. I unzipped my tent, threw my things inside, jumped in, and zipped the bug-proof seal.

Finally, I was safe from mosquitoes, except for the few that had come in the door with me. I spent the next half hour killing the 48 that were in the tent. These were sealed into a small zip-loc bag and sent back to Merrianne, in case people didn’t believe my story.

Some of the mosquitoes at the top of my tent that I bagged to send home. I recall a guy telling me to bring a tent to keep the bugs away. Having camped in generally dry areas before, I didn’t understand what was wrong with sleeping under the stars. Boy was I glad I had a tent!

After all that fun, I realized that there was still about an hour of light remaining, and that I was trapped in the tent. My writing paper was outside in my packs. Further, it would be an uncomfortable sleep without my inflatable pillow, which was also in the panniers. Inconveniences! I wasn’t about to let 48 more mosquitoes in. Good thing I didn’t need to go to the bathroom.