Taku Lake, or as we called it today,

Midgewater Marsh.

......The flies began to torment them, and the air was full of clouds of tiny midges that crept up their sleeves and breeches, and into their hair.

....."I am being eaten alive!" cried Pippin. "Midgewater! There are more midges than water!"

....."What the heck do they live on when they can't get hobbit?" asked Sam ...

........ ~~ J.R.R. Tolkien, "A Knife in the dark", The Fellowship of the Ring

Indeed.

We went to Taku Lake Park this morning, to begin our exploration of the trail system there. The trails are well-maintained, and the bike paths are paved. The paths go everywhich way, and there seems to be a fork around every bend. Cool!

I'm sure there are times when the park is quite busy, but it was nearly deserted this morning. That was a nice bonus.

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The paved path begins at the parking lot, so we headed out to see what we could see. Going north, the paved portion came to an end at a barricade where additional pavement is to be laid. We turned the other way and headed into the woods, along the edge of Taku Lake. It was sprinkling rain, just enough to be pleasant rather than a hindrance.

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"Taku" is the opposite of "chinook", in case you're wondering.

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We were making our way down the path when the air ahead started looking ... well, fuzzy. Great swarms of mosquitos appeared from the sides of the path and began a credible impression of Kamikaze fighters, targeting us.

Since we failed to actually bathe in DEET, the amount of bug lotion we used was woefully inadequate. After walking through clouds of mosquitos for a quarter-mile, we turned around and went back to the bike path.

There were a lot fewer bloodsuckers on the paved portion of the trail, and the brush was cut farther back from the sides.

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When we got back to the parking lot, I had to comb dead mosquitos out of my hair. Hardly surprising, considering the amount of time I spent slapping and/or waving my hands around, trying to keep the little things from landing.

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We walked for quite a distance this morning, and agreed we will visit again. The girls will like riding their bikes on these trails, too; the tunnels which pass under several roadways are much wider, and better lit, than others we've seen here.

But next time, we bring LOTS more DEET.