At a young age, you learn that there are four seasons:
Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. That may apply to most of the country. If you
were raised in Vermont or other parts of northern New England, you’re more
likely to think of Winter, Mud season, Black-fly season, and the Fourth of
July.
Most of my friends from the north eastern-provinces escape
when the snow flies. It’s tolerable, mind you; the roads are generally plowed,
the ski slopes are open, and there is a lot of wood or oil for the furnace. But
at our age, people prefer to winter in the South. Florida is a favorite. They only
summer in Vermont. That way they will miss Mud season and Black-fly season. Summer
and winter are verbs in that part of the country. I’ve never known anyone to
spring or fall anywhere.
Mud season comes in two varieties: on the roads and on the
mountain trails. One comes earlier than the other. There are 8,600 miles of
dirt and gravel roads in Vermont compared to 7,100 miles of paved roads,
including the four-lanes. When the January Thaw hits, sometime between the end
of January and mid-February, the less well-built gravel roads turn to mud. When
they dry out, the ruts are graded, and about the time the roads are back to
normal, the springs on the mountains start a heavy flow, pushed along by the
snowmelt, turning the hiking trails to mush.
Between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day plus a month or so
either way, you just have to stay indoors as much as possible. If you live in
the country, work a dairy farm, or go to your summer camp on the lake at that
time of year, you will experience Black-Fly season. The bugs get bigger with
each story told, just like the trout that got away. But, it’s true. They swarm
in the early morning and right around sunset. You can’t put on too much deet.[i]
They love blood; they drill down into the soft tissue like the neck or the back
of the ears. They are all females and need the blood to lay their eggs. Simple,
over-the-counter bug sprays are ineffective. You need the strong stuff.
If you take the rowboat across Bald Pond to the spot where
Bean Brook feeds the lake and the rainbows like to feed in early morning or sunset,
be ready to spend as much time swatting flies as casting flies. Don’t wear
shorts or short-sleeved shirts in Black Fly season; rather wear long sleeves, turn
up the collar, and stuff your pants into your socks. Wear a hat.
After Father’s day, or when you think the black flies have
had their fill, the no-see-ums show up. Actually, they don’t show up, otherwise,
they would be see-ums. You know when they arrive because your arms start waving
automatically; slapping anything on your body that you can reach. There are
over 500 varieties of no-see-ums around the world. I’m convinced that at least
400 of them summered at our camp. The closer to the water you got, the more bites
you got. DDT was a common chemical for ridding the house or the screened porch
of the bugs, but then we found out it wasn’t good for us. If it killed the
no-see-ums that quickly, imagine what it was doing to our insides. You can’t
buy it anymore.
In truth, the best way to rid yourself of black flies and
no-see-ums is not to go where they are. There were fewer in town, fewer still
in the big towns away from the water. There are fewer yet in California. We
know they are out there somewhere, perhaps closer to the Sierra or the large
lakes. But, and this is important, we don’t name a whole season for them. We
only have winter, summer and the fire season. The latter, however, is becoming
a year-round thing. That can’t be good! On the other hand, we can winter where
we summer.
[i] Deet – N. N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide, also called DEET(/diːt/)
or diethyltoluamide is the most common active ingredient in insect repellent
