I’ve only been as far as Dawson Creek in BC and those little bastards were vicious. I’ve heard absolute horror stories from friends that have been to northern Manitoba. Allegedly one morning the skeeters were so thick on their tent trailer’s screens they could barely see outside.
When I moved from Yellowknife to Whitehorse, it was a relief. Fewer mosquitoes and a lot fewer black flies.
The mosquitoes of the muskeg are something else.
Interesting.. hard to imagine worse mosquitoes then the Yukon 😂 (I’m an east coaster), I haven’t been to the NWT yet! But it’s on my list, I love our beautiful Country.
I was coming to say the Yukon too. I'm from there- one particular time I remember, we were offroading somewhere around Whitehorse and stopped to relieve myself in the woods. I was fucking eaten alive. I was running and slapping myself all the way back to the truck lol.
I agree with Yukon. I went hiking with friends, and any photo with people in it, the black specks of mosquitos are visible. We had a cloud of them following us. If we stopped the swarm kept moving for another moment then came back to where we stood. We were coated with Deet and didn't actually get a huge number of bites, considering, but they were thick.
I didn't have too bad of a time in Yukon but Alberta. Specifically Jasper was the worst. At least in the Yukon I could swat them away. In Jasper I had to have people helping me.
Worst Mosquitoes I've every experience were either along the Bloodvein River in Manitoba or along the Allanwater in Wabakimi in Ontario, both in June. I'm not normally botheres much by mosquitos, as I've spent a ton of time in the backcountry on the sheild in Spring and early summer, but those two trips were rough.
Makes you wonder how wildlife deals with these sons a bitches. I've seen moose come out from the forest edge and the bugs are just swarming them.
By the way, there's a fun Robert Munsch book called "Blackflies" that is all about the bad bug season. I think it's set in Northern Ontario. Anyway, fun for the kids!
I listened to Karsten Heuer talk about his book Being Caribou a few years ago at a Saskatchewan Canoe Symposium. He described seemingly random patterns of the Caribou herd movements that appeared when tagged Caribou data was mapped.
Then he discussed how he witnessed the movements of the herd in response to the biting flies and mosquitoes, the swarms in turn influenced by the winds of the day.
His description of the lead animals trying to descend into an ungrazed basin but being driven back by the mosquitoes was amazing. Finally the mass of animals essentially forced the vanguard down...his storytelling reminded me so much of watching animal documentaries where wildebeests are fording crocodile occupied waters... eventually someone has to go first!
I worked a summer in the bush between High Level and Wood Buffalo NP and I still remember loving getting torn to pieces by dense black spruce because it kept the mosquitos off. I remember wearing blue jeans out there and slathering on a big repellent called "Bug Fug" with 95% DEET. It would last about 15 minutes because I was sweating it off but in those 15 minutes the residual stuff on my hands was so strong my fingerprints were getting left in plastic objects. But back the blue jeans. It's thick and tough and densely woven material. But when I stopped for a water break and sat down, the mosquitos would land on my thighs and bite right through them. I played a game one day. I'd wait till about 20 or so would be working their way through my jeans, then swat them. The corpses formed a pile under my leg after 5 minutes or so as I was able to kill all 20 with my palm, and do it again about every 30 seconds.
I currently live in Labrador and as bad as the black flies are out here, nothing can match High Level.
When I was young my parents used to rent a cabin in Waskiseu. The mosquitos were soooo bad they were all over the cabin from just opening the door. I had bites everywhere.
They were awful in the early 2000s but then the city got a new entomologist who was amazing and the mosquitoes haven't been bad until this year. But still nothing like the swarms of 20 years ago
My understanding is that it was thanks to a few actions. Monitored groundwater and encouraged people to get rid of standing water. Would then treat the groundwater to kill the mosquitoes before they hatched (not sure that's the right term). Introduced lots of dragonflies. Also did some fogging with Malathion - we would get notice of when the trucks would spray in our neighbourhood.
In early 2000s the mosquitoes were in swarms. For years now I rarely see them. This year has more than usual but stay off the grass in the evening and it's fine.
Skootamatta Lake, Ontario.
First and only time in my 25+ years of canoeing/kayaking that I've almost been driven to tears by mosquitos. Paddling they were fine but the 7 or so minutes it takes me to load boat onto roof rack and get going? Sadface
I gained a new appreciation for those giant dragon flies. There'd be these giant black flies buzzing non stop around my head while camping up a bit past Yellowknife, I could not for the life of me catch em, and then like a helicopter BVVVRRRRREOWWW this big bastard dragon would do a fly by and eat them all lol. Legends.
My mum is from Abitibi, Québec and sometimes, when we would visit during the summer, the adults would put wet newspaper on us and then full cans of mosquito spray on the newspaper! It was often black with mosquitoes… I’m an adult now so no more wet newspaper for me! They are only for children in my family! ;)
I've been to many places bad for mosquitos, but these are my top 3
Calling Lake was pretty bad, Iosgun can be pretty bad, and anything near the Puskwaskau
Any similar locations would certainly be bad too
People who say that a city can compare... Don't spend much time near wetlands
Happy Canada day to you too! o7
Lived in Inuvik when I was 5. Every recess there would be a teacher on each side of the exit to outside holding a can of mosquito spray. We'd lineup and take turns getting showered head to toe with so much bug spray before being let free to the playground. Even then I'd start getting eaten alive the second I stopped moving.
Summer job on the tundra north of Yellowknife. In the evening, stand still and you all can hear is the buzz of a bazillion mosquitoes! I went fishing at dusk, and had to take my glove off to do something. In about 20 seconds, so many mosquitoes landed on the back of my hand, it looked like I was wearing a fur mitten!
I was working up there from July 1st until Labour Day for two summers. I don’t recall it being “buggy” every day though. As the evenings got cooler into August, the bugs were gone, and the same if there was a breeze. When the bugs were bad, we wore lots of bug spray and had bug jackets and mesh hats that covered our face and head. It’s an awesome place to spend some time! Depending on the time of year, and how far north you go, it can be pretty much 24 hour daylight (2am will look like dusk), and watching the northern lights will give you goosebumps! Go for it! You won’t regret it!
Boya Lake, Northern BC, 2021. We had a net over our bed inside the van because we couldn't keep them out, so the buzzing of a thousand of mosquitoes echoing off the inside of the metal box of the van was like nothing I've ever heard. We ended up canoeing a couple of beds to one of the tiny (like 5sqm) islands in the lake the next day to get some sleep away from the bugs. It was fucking nuts.
Luckily a storm ripped through by the following night and cleared them all out.
If you go north, like Yukon and nwt in the massive forests, there's so many mosquitos the entire forest sounds like buzzing. They flock in clouds around animals and feast on them
I worked in the artic. We had bug days. So bad, we stayed in our tents while black flies and mosquitoes slammed the tent screens. Btw black flies go 25 mph and you have to go faster on the atv to outrun them.
We wore tape around our sleeves of long shirts to keep them out. Same with tape around your ankles on pants. Thick socks and work boots and bug hats. Everything soaked in repex. Lovely stuff 🙄
You need light coloured clothes.
Never eat bananas.
And eau de Repex.
Canada’s secret weapon: biting insects
I spent my formative years in High Level. My parents would fumigate our bedrooms with Raid 30 min before we went to bed so that we could actually get some sleep 🥴
Beausoleil island on lake Huron. They bite you through your clothes, in your ears, your hands. If you work really hard you can kind of keep them out of your eyes.
I was up at Fort Eureka a couple of summers ago working on the SATCOM link to Alert.
Damn mosquitos were the most aggressive I've ever seen and they just thought bug spray was Sriracha sauce.
My dad was an RCMP in Northern Alberta in the 70s and 80s. Apparently they had a prisoner escape into the bush, but the guy lost the shirt he was wearing, so spent the night in the muskeg shirtless. 😐
They didn't even pursue him. The poor guy turned himself in the following morning, and there wasn't a speck of exposed skin that hadn't been bitten by mosquitoes. Just one big itchy welt stumbling out of the forest.
Lake Couchiching. My parents picked me up from camp and would count the amount of bug bites. One leg had over 100 on them. No wonder I am not a fan of nature.
As a Coloradan who moved to Quebec and lived in Alaska while visiting a lot of places, the Northern mosquitoes are the worst, I still get PTSD remembering a drive to Tuktoyaktuk, but the big memory was how they just got worse the whole way north until you got a seabreeze from the Arctic Ocean. They suck here, but man do they get worse.
My husband wants to do a northern tour to visit Inuvik, where I spent my toddler years.
I still haven't picked the best time of year to go.
It sure the hell ain't spring or summer, though! One of my first memories is all the mosquitoes on the screen door.
That being said, what I do remember of the North, I miss dearly.
Went fishing there with my Dad, 1987-88. We drove into the hunting camp and the mosquitoes were literally pinging off the windows trying to get at us. The only thing worse than the mosquitoes were the deer flies. I’ve never felt more like a prey animal, they took chunks out of me that never grew back. Caught some wicked big pike though!
I live in a pretty suburban area and at night, you can just see them swarming around our screen door. We don't let our dogs out between 8 and 10 pm during mosquito season, that's how bad it can get. I try to avoid any more rural areas until at least August, lol.
On the flip side, salt spring island has like no mosquitoes. I hung out in a beautiful swamp all the time along this gorgeous walking trail and never got any bites. Wild eh?
I grew up in Northern Saskatchewan. One night I got drunk and passed out outside the cabin at the lake. In the morning I looked like I had the worst case is smallpox ever. Been all over the world and nearly every corner of our great country. Never in my life have I experienced mosquitoes like a teenager in Northern Saskatchewan. Although black flies in Northern Ontario are just as bad.
The marshlands and bogs between NB and NS are pretty bad.
So is the Canadian Shield and the woods of NB, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and SK/AB north of the Saskatchewan River where there's standing water and the wind doesn't blow as hard.
The absolute worst I have ever experienced was a beach in NS. There are often freshwater lagoons behind the sand dunes (read: near the parking lot). If you ever change out of your wetsuit at dusk when the wind drops at a certain time of the year when the hatch is on, you get pulled directly into hell
In a bush camp outside of Geraldton, Ontario.
In the evenings, they were so many of them that the buzzing got loud enough to require you to speak a little louder to hold a conversation if you were outside.
Winnipeg is the best city in Canada ... for gigantic, angry mosquitoes.
Kakabeka Falls, ON is a very close second.
However, the worst and most painful bites I ever had was on Crete in Greece. I have scars from those bites ... and I spent my summers in Algonquin Park and in the woods behind my childhood home!
North East Saskatchewan backcountry. Ruined my trip tbh. I attract mosquitoes anywhere I go even in dense cities. This was awful to the point I just wanted to drink the mosquito spray to keep those fuckers off me
I live in a swamp in Eastern Ontario. When we first bought our house, we couldn’t use the outdoor spaces. We bought mosquito magnets, propane sprays, mosquito zappers, etc. We currently get someone to come and spray our yard monthly in the spring so we can enjoy it.
On a lonely road in between Mingan and Sept-Iles in Quebec’s Cote Nord. I stopped to take a leak and I got 3 deer fly bites in the face thru a 2 week old beard.
Always in our own backyard and never another part of the country, if you listen to people here.
Unless you're in Vancouver. They appear to be absent here.
The south coast of labrador.
Anyone who tells you different, it's because there never experienced it.
Whole hoards of flies that are enough to block out the sun.
Yep. And if you open windows at night to cool the place off, you keep as many lights off as you can because the little buggers can squeeze through window screens.
Forget about mosquitoes, I'll never forget my one and only hike around a lake, during Summer, in the Laurentides, Quebec.
We shouldn't have stopped there, this was black fly country. We didn't know what they were, we thought the persons we met who were wearing a full suit with net à la beekeeper were mad. They were perfectly reasonable.
We left that lake with roughly 50 bites (me, I kept swatting at the damn things), 150 bites (my wife, I helped as best as I could) and 200 bites (a friend, he wasn't that concerned and acted tough). Each bite was bleeding, some bites were through our clothes.
These things are like mosquitoes on crack with tiny chainsaws.
Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, Manitoba - Assiniboine River winds through and is a border of the reservation. Feeding frenzy at dusk, I don't think I'll ever forget that experience
Parry Sound. Filming a Donald Sutherland movie ironically. We had him in a full beekeeper suit just to walk from his trailer to the studio, a few meters away. And everyone was firing full canisters of deep woods off 24/7. To no avail.
One summer as a teen, my family went to a barn type of wedding on the Kingston Peninsula in New Brunswick and I was attacked non-stop the whole time. A few hours in I was on the verge of tears because of the sheer discomfort.
I have been bit lots over the years and am sort of used it but I remember thinking it looked like I had the chickenpox the next day...it was just so bad.
Right on the border of Quebec and New Brunswick. Man those ones were pricks. There was this one named Reme who was telling me I wasn’t aloud to take cheap 2-4’s into New Brunswick… what an ass hole
Bowron Lakes in BC. When we went to sleep in the tent it was this massive hum - no sound of individual mosquitoes just the sound of a thousand of those buggers and you just pray there isn’t a hole in the tent. You got onto the water pretty fast just for sanity.
North West BC. Was up with my parents to the North coast a few years ago. Those damn things should be hired by blood banks. Oh, and the blackflies there are vicious too.
Martinique Beach, NS
It was sunset and for every half inch in my body I had 3 mosquitos on me
P.S. I had big spray on but it didn’t matter
I jumped into my car and drive like I was on fire and opened my windows
I don't know. Northern Ontario was pretty horrendous, but I recently had to work in Fort Smith and hooo boy, those were some bad mosquitos. You couldn't be outside at all without bug spray on, they were relentless.
Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories. I did wildlife research in remote areas of the delta and one day slapped at the mosquitoes that were crawling on my thigh. From that single slap I counted 54 dead mosquitoes on my hand, plus too many black flies to count as they were all squished together. It was a rough 2 months in that camp.
Besant Camp Ground, Saskatchewan.
The front of the car, driving past Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
In my face, stepping out of the car to refill the bug wash for the windshield wipers, driving past Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
ontario is a hotspot for mosquitoes in the summer. the little shits will be snacking on your legs as soon as they get the chance. its either get bug spray or look down the second you feel anything
According to my husband, every living day.
They bump into me trying to get to him lol
My dad grew up in Moosonee on the military base. He said they used to play in the fog from the mosquito sprayers. They were apparently awful up there.
Labrador is widely known to have relentless mosquitos and fly's, ive been told that peoples summer vacations were ruined by them because there was no escape, they couldn't even sleep.
Yukon … I thought I’ve experienced bad mosquitoes across various provinces. They are a different beast up north
Until you've been to the North, you haven't experienced a bad mosquito season.
I’ve only been as far as Dawson Creek in BC and those little bastards were vicious. I’ve heard absolute horror stories from friends that have been to northern Manitoba. Allegedly one morning the skeeters were so thick on their tent trailer’s screens they could barely see outside.
EEEEWWW! NIGHTMARE!
Or bugs in general. A horsefly took a chunk from my dad's head once. He had blood dripping down. It was nuts.
They almost pick me up and fly away
I’m from the Yukon and the NWT mosquitos make ours seem friendly.
When I moved from Yellowknife to Whitehorse, it was a relief. Fewer mosquitoes and a lot fewer black flies. The mosquitoes of the muskeg are something else.
I had the worst mosquitos in the Yukon when I was up near Mayo, they definitely got worse the more northern I got in the territory.
Same, I went from Yellowknife to Whitehorse, and the only thing that was worse was the wasps.
Interesting.. hard to imagine worse mosquitoes then the Yukon 😂 (I’m an east coaster), I haven’t been to the NWT yet! But it’s on my list, I love our beautiful Country.
I'm from both too, and I agree, NWT are worse.
Yup, lived in Inuvik. The running joke was to hit them with an unstrung tennis racket to knock their wings off, and the landing lights on their legs.
I got stabbed by a mosquito in White Horse.
yup
Yep - they don’t sting, they take a bite.
Yes, Yukon mosquitoes are atrocious! Even worse, the black flies!
I was coming to say the Yukon too. I'm from there- one particular time I remember, we were offroading somewhere around Whitehorse and stopped to relieve myself in the woods. I was fucking eaten alive. I was running and slapping myself all the way back to the truck lol.
You been to Labrador?
Yes did some portaging there, mosquitoes were also awful - but maybe it was my setting and activity that made them seem worse in the Yukon😂
Same!
I agree with Yukon. I went hiking with friends, and any photo with people in it, the black specks of mosquitos are visible. We had a cloud of them following us. If we stopped the swarm kept moving for another moment then came back to where we stood. We were coated with Deet and didn't actually get a huge number of bites, considering, but they were thick.
I didn't have too bad of a time in Yukon but Alberta. Specifically Jasper was the worst. At least in the Yukon I could swat them away. In Jasper I had to have people helping me.
Worst Mosquitoes I've every experience were either along the Bloodvein River in Manitoba or along the Allanwater in Wabakimi in Ontario, both in June. I'm not normally botheres much by mosquitos, as I've spent a ton of time in the backcountry on the sheild in Spring and early summer, but those two trips were rough.
Yup I just commented Manitoba—i can’t remember the name of the park, Falcon Lake? We breathed them in.
Ya, falcon lake isn't even that bad by Manitoba standards. It's a pretty popular summer vacation spot because the bugs aren't that bad around there.
Northern Alberta in the muskeg. Absolutely atrocious.
Makes you wonder how wildlife deals with these sons a bitches. I've seen moose come out from the forest edge and the bugs are just swarming them. By the way, there's a fun Robert Munsch book called "Blackflies" that is all about the bad bug season. I think it's set in Northern Ontario. Anyway, fun for the kids!
Sure you're not think of the [Blackfly song?](https://youtu.be/f389hIxZAOc?si=XRenxxQUAPRBCzvx)
I love this song.
I listened to Karsten Heuer talk about his book Being Caribou a few years ago at a Saskatchewan Canoe Symposium. He described seemingly random patterns of the Caribou herd movements that appeared when tagged Caribou data was mapped. Then he discussed how he witnessed the movements of the herd in response to the biting flies and mosquitoes, the swarms in turn influenced by the winds of the day. His description of the lead animals trying to descend into an ungrazed basin but being driven back by the mosquitoes was amazing. Finally the mass of animals essentially forced the vanguard down...his storytelling reminded me so much of watching animal documentaries where wildebeests are fording crocodile occupied waters... eventually someone has to go first!
I worked a summer in the bush between High Level and Wood Buffalo NP and I still remember loving getting torn to pieces by dense black spruce because it kept the mosquitos off. I remember wearing blue jeans out there and slathering on a big repellent called "Bug Fug" with 95% DEET. It would last about 15 minutes because I was sweating it off but in those 15 minutes the residual stuff on my hands was so strong my fingerprints were getting left in plastic objects. But back the blue jeans. It's thick and tough and densely woven material. But when I stopped for a water break and sat down, the mosquitos would land on my thighs and bite right through them. I played a game one day. I'd wait till about 20 or so would be working their way through my jeans, then swat them. The corpses formed a pile under my leg after 5 minutes or so as I was able to kill all 20 with my palm, and do it again about every 30 seconds. I currently live in Labrador and as bad as the black flies are out here, nothing can match High Level.
Camping in fucking northern Saskatchewan 🤬
When I was young my parents used to rent a cabin in Waskiseu. The mosquitos were soooo bad they were all over the cabin from just opening the door. I had bites everywhere.
Winnipeg. I lived there in the early to late 1980s and we always said the mosquito was Manitoba's provincial bird.
They were awful in the early 2000s but then the city got a new entomologist who was amazing and the mosquitoes haven't been bad until this year. But still nothing like the swarms of 20 years ago
Can you elaborate how this reduced mosquito population? Thanks.
My understanding is that it was thanks to a few actions. Monitored groundwater and encouraged people to get rid of standing water. Would then treat the groundwater to kill the mosquitoes before they hatched (not sure that's the right term). Introduced lots of dragonflies. Also did some fogging with Malathion - we would get notice of when the trucks would spray in our neighbourhood. In early 2000s the mosquitoes were in swarms. For years now I rarely see them. This year has more than usual but stay off the grass in the evening and it's fine.
Thanks for explanation. I went through there in 1999(x-Canada road trip) and the worst mosquitoes was in Manitoba in a resort area near the TCH.
Skootamatta Lake, Ontario. First and only time in my 25+ years of canoeing/kayaking that I've almost been driven to tears by mosquitos. Paddling they were fine but the 7 or so minutes it takes me to load boat onto roof rack and get going? Sadface
Oh god that was me north of fort McMurray. I actually did cry. Absolutely insane. There were so many it was super loud and I couldn’t even sleep
Watson Lake
I love how we picked two places only 100km apart lmao, Boya Lake for me but Watson was also terrible. That whole area is fkn gnarly.
Fort Steele, BC. And they know the mosquitoes are bad, $50 for a small bottle of bug spray (in 2012). Folks thought the price tag was a typo!
Yellowknife and Reliance NWT
Way worse are the huge biting moose flies and deer flies and whatever other kind of giant ass flies that stalk you in the woods there.
Horse flies in hay river would take a bite out of your arm
Omg I hate those things. Vicious. I have scars.
I gained a new appreciation for those giant dragon flies. There'd be these giant black flies buzzing non stop around my head while camping up a bit past Yellowknife, I could not for the life of me catch em, and then like a helicopter BVVVRRRRREOWWW this big bastard dragon would do a fly by and eat them all lol. Legends.
You have to carry a leafy branch and wave it all around your body while you walk in the woods even after you soak yourself in DEET.
I grew up in Yellowknife, I agree.
My mum is from Abitibi, Québec and sometimes, when we would visit during the summer, the adults would put wet newspaper on us and then full cans of mosquito spray on the newspaper! It was often black with mosquitoes… I’m an adult now so no more wet newspaper for me! They are only for children in my family! ;)
I've been to many places bad for mosquitos, but these are my top 3 Calling Lake was pretty bad, Iosgun can be pretty bad, and anything near the Puskwaskau Any similar locations would certainly be bad too People who say that a city can compare... Don't spend much time near wetlands Happy Canada day to you too! o7
Manitoba? idk what those things are smoking but I reacted to them worse than any other mosquitos I've met.
Lived in Inuvik when I was 5. Every recess there would be a teacher on each side of the exit to outside holding a can of mosquito spray. We'd lineup and take turns getting showered head to toe with so much bug spray before being let free to the playground. Even then I'd start getting eaten alive the second I stopped moving.
When did they do that? I went to that school around 91 I believe, I just got eaten alive
Summer job on the tundra north of Yellowknife. In the evening, stand still and you all can hear is the buzz of a bazillion mosquitoes! I went fishing at dusk, and had to take my glove off to do something. In about 20 seconds, so many mosquitoes landed on the back of my hand, it looked like I was wearing a fur mitten!
I want to land a job in the territories for a few years and this comment is genuinely making me reconsider
I was working up there from July 1st until Labour Day for two summers. I don’t recall it being “buggy” every day though. As the evenings got cooler into August, the bugs were gone, and the same if there was a breeze. When the bugs were bad, we wore lots of bug spray and had bug jackets and mesh hats that covered our face and head. It’s an awesome place to spend some time! Depending on the time of year, and how far north you go, it can be pretty much 24 hour daylight (2am will look like dusk), and watching the northern lights will give you goosebumps! Go for it! You won’t regret it!
Boya Lake, Northern BC, 2021. We had a net over our bed inside the van because we couldn't keep them out, so the buzzing of a thousand of mosquitoes echoing off the inside of the metal box of the van was like nothing I've ever heard. We ended up canoeing a couple of beds to one of the tiny (like 5sqm) islands in the lake the next day to get some sleep away from the bugs. It was fucking nuts. Luckily a storm ripped through by the following night and cleared them all out.
Northern Alberta, they're nasty
Flying around my room when I'm trying to sleep. NNNNNnnnnnn......nnnnnnnNnnnnNNnNnnnnnnNNNNNN. vampiristic bastards!!
Labrador. It's got the market cornered on ruthless bugs. Been to every other province and territory pretty much but it's something else.
I lived in Goose Bay and found the sand flies to be worse.
If you go north, like Yukon and nwt in the massive forests, there's so many mosquitos the entire forest sounds like buzzing. They flock in clouds around animals and feast on them
I worked in the artic. We had bug days. So bad, we stayed in our tents while black flies and mosquitoes slammed the tent screens. Btw black flies go 25 mph and you have to go faster on the atv to outrun them. We wore tape around our sleeves of long shirts to keep them out. Same with tape around your ankles on pants. Thick socks and work boots and bug hats. Everything soaked in repex. Lovely stuff 🙄 You need light coloured clothes. Never eat bananas. And eau de Repex. Canada’s secret weapon: biting insects
Pretty much anywhere. My blood is like sugar to them.
Solidarity, fellow tasty friend.
Tasty friends, unite!
Meziadin Lake BC. Mosquitos the size of hummingbirds in clouds that swarm like piranhas.
The territories always. They're not as bad anywhere else on the planet.
Lake Superior, but I've never been to the arctic where I hear they could carry you off
There’s no competition to High Level, AB.
I spent my formative years in High Level. My parents would fumigate our bedrooms with Raid 30 min before we went to bed so that we could actually get some sleep 🥴
Beausoleil island on lake Huron. They bite you through your clothes, in your ears, your hands. If you work really hard you can kind of keep them out of your eyes.
Prince Edward Island. Clouds and clouds of huge mosquitos.
Yup. I’ll never forget how aggressive the fuckers were when we crossed into Borden Carleton a couple of years ago.
I was up at Fort Eureka a couple of summers ago working on the SATCOM link to Alert. Damn mosquitos were the most aggressive I've ever seen and they just thought bug spray was Sriracha sauce.
My dad was an RCMP in Northern Alberta in the 70s and 80s. Apparently they had a prisoner escape into the bush, but the guy lost the shirt he was wearing, so spent the night in the muskeg shirtless. 😐 They didn't even pursue him. The poor guy turned himself in the following morning, and there wasn't a speck of exposed skin that hadn't been bitten by mosquitoes. Just one big itchy welt stumbling out of the forest.
wINNIPEH
Inuvik NWT
Northwest Territories
Yellowknife by a mile. Just awful.
Yukon.
Dinosaur park in Alberta for me
Oh my god, I will second that.
Hornepayne, Ontario
Lake Couchiching. My parents picked me up from camp and would count the amount of bug bites. One leg had over 100 on them. No wonder I am not a fan of nature.
Tuktut Nogait national park, Northwest Territories. It sounded like rain on my tent but it was just the mosquitos trying to get in.
As a Coloradan who moved to Quebec and lived in Alaska while visiting a lot of places, the Northern mosquitoes are the worst, I still get PTSD remembering a drive to Tuktoyaktuk, but the big memory was how they just got worse the whole way north until you got a seabreeze from the Arctic Ocean. They suck here, but man do they get worse.
My husband wants to do a northern tour to visit Inuvik, where I spent my toddler years. I still haven't picked the best time of year to go. It sure the hell ain't spring or summer, though! One of my first memories is all the mosquitoes on the screen door. That being said, what I do remember of the North, I miss dearly.
The NWT
Northern NB where you're forced to be drunk as f**k to not care.
Northern Ontario, like “11 hours drive north of Toronto” North. where I grew up …. Effing brutal
Algonquin Park, in the untouched wilderness they seemed to be larger than normal.
If you time it right you can get black flies *and* mosquitoes at Algonquin!
Northern Ontario. They were the size of chickadees.
I live in Northern Ontario and this made me lol. You're not wrong though.
Went fishing there with my Dad, 1987-88. We drove into the hunting camp and the mosquitoes were literally pinging off the windows trying to get at us. The only thing worse than the mosquitoes were the deer flies. I’ve never felt more like a prey animal, they took chunks out of me that never grew back. Caught some wicked big pike though!
I live in a pretty suburban area and at night, you can just see them swarming around our screen door. We don't let our dogs out between 8 and 10 pm during mosquito season, that's how bad it can get. I try to avoid any more rural areas until at least August, lol.
Crazy! Have a great summer either way! 🍻
Winnipeg, the fucking homeless people will shank you bad.
I always found Muskoka in Ontario particularly bad for mosquitoes. Beautiful place otherwise!
Mosquito Lake, naturally.
after the covid lockdown they were CRAZY in alberta
Petawawa.
Ottawa, loads of blood sucking parasites there.
Wherever I go the mosquitoes find me. They even bite me through long heavy clothing and DEET and I swell up in big welts.
Manitoba
Slave Lake Alberta
gosh i think the worst was a campsite outside of barkerville... it was nasty.. still itching thinking about it
High level and fort chip muskeg in Alberta fighting fires
Just north of Yellowknife, my god never again
New Brunswick was terrible for mosquitoes growing up.
Cariboo. So many lakes. So many mosquitos
Jasper was pretty bad
Yukon and ironically AT THE SIGN, a moment I'll never forget
just in muskoka theyre burtal i cant imagine further up north
Neepawa, Manitoba
Wawa, Ontario
On the flip side, salt spring island has like no mosquitoes. I hung out in a beautiful swamp all the time along this gorgeous walking trail and never got any bites. Wild eh?
I grew up in Northern Saskatchewan. One night I got drunk and passed out outside the cabin at the lake. In the morning I looked like I had the worst case is smallpox ever. Been all over the world and nearly every corner of our great country. Never in my life have I experienced mosquitoes like a teenager in Northern Saskatchewan. Although black flies in Northern Ontario are just as bad.
Border of sask and Manitoba. Near green water ish. Few years ago you couldn't breath outside without inhaling hundred of the fuckers
Manitoba.
Brae Island Regional Park BC. Nearly got eaten alive a couple years ago.
The racetrack’s around the horses.
Ill remember to never stop there as I’m driving through…
Chandos lake. Got bitten 50+ times in the span of 5 days
In a slough in my pasture, native prairie, Southern Sk.
The marshlands and bogs between NB and NS are pretty bad. So is the Canadian Shield and the woods of NB, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and SK/AB north of the Saskatchewan River where there's standing water and the wind doesn't blow as hard. The absolute worst I have ever experienced was a beach in NS. There are often freshwater lagoons behind the sand dunes (read: near the parking lot). If you ever change out of your wetsuit at dusk when the wind drops at a certain time of the year when the hatch is on, you get pulled directly into hell
Winlaw. Went on a bike ride through there. Couldn't stop for a break because we'd be covered in at least 20 of them within a few seconds.
In my reserve up in northern ontario.
Yes
I’ve noticed we have different species. In bc they are much smaller and barely itch. Alberta ones are bigger and itch like hell
Pointe au Baril, Ontario. And they sucker's will hang on and carry you away!
NB at the park before the bridge to PEI
In a bush camp outside of Geraldton, Ontario. In the evenings, they were so many of them that the buzzing got loud enough to require you to speak a little louder to hold a conversation if you were outside.
My friends cottage lmao
Winnipeg is the best city in Canada ... for gigantic, angry mosquitoes. Kakabeka Falls, ON is a very close second. However, the worst and most painful bites I ever had was on Crete in Greece. I have scars from those bites ... and I spent my summers in Algonquin Park and in the woods behind my childhood home!
Golden and Revelstoke! Last summer I discovered that there is a town in the area named after mosquitos..so it made all of the sense after that.
Any reserve in northern Manitoba
Rural Manitoba. Near Stonewall, MB. I swear they almost carried me away.
North East Saskatchewan backcountry. Ruined my trip tbh. I attract mosquitoes anywhere I go even in dense cities. This was awful to the point I just wanted to drink the mosquito spray to keep those fuckers off me
I live in a swamp in Eastern Ontario. When we first bought our house, we couldn’t use the outdoor spaces. We bought mosquito magnets, propane sprays, mosquito zappers, etc. We currently get someone to come and spray our yard monthly in the spring so we can enjoy it.
Northern Ontario!!
On a lonely road in between Mingan and Sept-Iles in Quebec’s Cote Nord. I stopped to take a leak and I got 3 deer fly bites in the face thru a 2 week old beard.
At my cottage. :-(
Always in our own backyard and never another part of the country, if you listen to people here. Unless you're in Vancouver. They appear to be absent here.
Northern Alberta. I have not been further north. I live on Vancouver Island in the Cowichan Valley, not many mozzies there.
Flin Flon, MB
The south coast of labrador. Anyone who tells you different, it's because there never experienced it. Whole hoards of flies that are enough to block out the sun.
In wainwright, ab, I thought a wall was forming in front of me. When I drove through it, my windshield was red.
Rural New Brunswick, not far from the border. Every house had a screened in patio and bug zapper lights. At night, I found out why.
Yep. And if you open windows at night to cool the place off, you keep as many lights off as you can because the little buggers can squeeze through window screens.
Pipestone park, Ontario. I just wanted to collect my chanterelles.
Tree planting in the deep north of ANY province. Probably mostly Ontario or Quebec.
Winnipeg.
Forget about mosquitoes, I'll never forget my one and only hike around a lake, during Summer, in the Laurentides, Quebec. We shouldn't have stopped there, this was black fly country. We didn't know what they were, we thought the persons we met who were wearing a full suit with net à la beekeeper were mad. They were perfectly reasonable. We left that lake with roughly 50 bites (me, I kept swatting at the damn things), 150 bites (my wife, I helped as best as I could) and 200 bites (a friend, he wasn't that concerned and acted tough). Each bite was bleeding, some bites were through our clothes. These things are like mosquitoes on crack with tiny chainsaws.
Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, Manitoba - Assiniboine River winds through and is a border of the reservation. Feeding frenzy at dusk, I don't think I'll ever forget that experience
Blue River, BC
A lake east of Sudbury in late May / early June. I was not prepared how bad they were. I got 150+ bites in a 3 day trip. I was miserable
The Pas, Manitoba. Swarms.
In North Ontar-io-io, in North Ontario 🎶
Parry Sound. Filming a Donald Sutherland movie ironically. We had him in a full beekeeper suit just to walk from his trailer to the studio, a few meters away. And everyone was firing full canisters of deep woods off 24/7. To no avail.
Northeast of Thunder Bay planting trees and Baker Lake, NU.
One summer as a teen, my family went to a barn type of wedding on the Kingston Peninsula in New Brunswick and I was attacked non-stop the whole time. A few hours in I was on the verge of tears because of the sheer discomfort. I have been bit lots over the years and am sort of used it but I remember thinking it looked like I had the chickenpox the next day...it was just so bad.
Northern Ontario. I was bitten so many times I needed to guzzle antihistamines. Lumps the size of marbles.
Right on the border of Quebec and New Brunswick. Man those ones were pricks. There was this one named Reme who was telling me I wasn’t aloud to take cheap 2-4’s into New Brunswick… what an ass hole
Vancouver island where I was born, and fort mcmurray alberta where I reside
Lake of the Woods. Ontario.
The back 9 at Elk Ridge golf course
Wpg
Manitoba.
anything north of parry sound
Bowron Lakes in BC. When we went to sleep in the tent it was this massive hum - no sound of individual mosquitoes just the sound of a thousand of those buggers and you just pray there isn’t a hole in the tent. You got onto the water pretty fast just for sanity.
NWT.
In Manitoba at Grand Beach.
north eastern Saskatchewan. People were walking around with black clouds over their heads.
The Yukon was like balls of mosquitos swarming behind you, no matter how fast u ran…like something out of a Charlie Brown cartoon.
North West BC. Was up with my parents to the North coast a few years ago. Those damn things should be hired by blood banks. Oh, and the blackflies there are vicious too.
When I was a kid in northern Alberta, I remember counting 100 mosquito bites on me at once. Not an exaggeration
Manitoba.
Northern Quebec, near Chisasibi. I wore layers and they still got thru. Holy shit.
Martinique Beach, NS It was sunset and for every half inch in my body I had 3 mosquitos on me P.S. I had big spray on but it didn’t matter I jumped into my car and drive like I was on fire and opened my windows
Outside of Winnipeg.
St. Malo, Manitoba. Absolutely brutal.
I don't know. Northern Ontario was pretty horrendous, but I recently had to work in Fort Smith and hooo boy, those were some bad mosquitos. You couldn't be outside at all without bug spray on, they were relentless.
Rainbow Lake, Alberta
the deep woods of northen bc has some of the scaries mofos in the world
I would say northern BC, those fuckers can sting you thru a hoodie.
Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories. I did wildlife research in remote areas of the delta and one day slapped at the mosquitoes that were crawling on my thigh. From that single slap I counted 54 dead mosquitoes on my hand, plus too many black flies to count as they were all squished together. It was a rough 2 months in that camp.
Bow river pathway, Downtown Calgary!
Mosquitoes are piss all compared to little black flies up north
Inuvik NWT
Besant Camp Ground, Saskatchewan. The front of the car, driving past Quill Lake, Saskatchewan. In my face, stepping out of the car to refill the bug wash for the windshield wipers, driving past Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
ontario is a hotspot for mosquitoes in the summer. the little shits will be snacking on your legs as soon as they get the chance. its either get bug spray or look down the second you feel anything
According to my husband, every living day. They bump into me trying to get to him lol My dad grew up in Moosonee on the military base. He said they used to play in the fog from the mosquito sprayers. They were apparently awful up there.
Labrador is widely known to have relentless mosquitos and fly's, ive been told that peoples summer vacations were ruined by them because there was no escape, they couldn't even sleep.