Mosquitoes, gnats, no see ums, white sox, black flies, etc. are just part of the northern wildlife. As a food source, they are one of the main reasons why the migratory birds, ducks, geese, swans, cranes, etc. go there each year to raise their chicks, lots to eat and build strong bird bodies 8 ways,so to speak.
If you stay in the more urban campgrounds, the gravel parking lot types, you can keep down the number of bugs you will experience or stay in the more urban areas. I think the last time we stayed at the Rivers Edge CG in Fairbanks we saw about two mosquitoes in the week we were there. but the week on the Denali Hwy staying at Tangle Lakes made up for it. LOL So depending what and where a person wants to go, there may be bugs, jillions of them as my 11 year grandson will say. There is no such thing as a "no" bug summer in the north country, that I ever saw in living in rural Alaska for 25+ years. That was always a concern in the back of my head when I was doing a lot of bush flying in Alaska and having a crash. Not worried about the bears but surviving the insects was something I stocked up on in my emergency supplies, lots of DEET, head nets, long sleved shirts, cotton gloves, duct tape to seal any openings, etc.
I will make reservations when ever I know where I am going to be at a certain time. Why not? It just takes a phone call or an email most of the time. When I have a ferry schedule made, then next I will make camping reservations based on the ferry dates. The one campground in Prince Rupert, in town, will fill up the day or two before departure dates for Alaska and/or when the salmon runs are taking place. The last time we stayed there seemed half the campers were fisherman over form Alberta loading up their freezers for the winter ahead. When we get to a few days of arrival we will call ahead and make a reservation for a site if we plan to stay in a campground. (I do appreciate those cheechokos that tell others they don't need reservations as it makes it easier for me to get one. Keep up the good work) LOL Places like Whitehores, I will call the Hi Country a few days ahead, the same in Fairbanks, Valdez, Seward if close to the marathon run, any of the campgrounds near any of the salmon runs on the Kenai and where ever we are going to be on both Canada Day and US Independence Day.
But by the same token, in the multiple trips I have mode over the last 52 years of driving to/from Alaska, I have never not been able to find some place to sleep for the night. I don't care much for the roadside pull offs due to the heavy truck traffic, reffers running all night, etc. But I do like the use the provincial and territorial campgrounds which are very pleasant places to stay and reasonable in price. I don't make the trips to see how cheap I can make the trip for, but try maximize our pleasures. The trip in general is expensive so I see no reason to cheap out and skip the government type campgrounds, especially the ones in the Yukon and northern BC. They are built on crown land that is absolutely some of the most spectacular scenery on this continent, IMHO. Probably going to cost me less than $15 a night and since most of my round trips end up costing us over $10,000, the $15 is very minor to us.
Sounds like profdant139 and I should have a bug contest to see which of us is the best bug magnet. LOL My wife also claims she doesn't have to use bug spray when I am around. They eat me alive, I have tried taking vitamins, changing my diet, etc and nothing works for me except bug spray and cover up every inch of skin on my body as best I can. Remember the last time we camped at Tangle Lakes CG, BLM campground. I got up that morning and after breakfast needed to go to the outhouse. Early on in our marriage, my wife claimed the use of the camper bathroom as her personal space and the one down the trail was mine. So we compromised and did it her way. All married guys will understand that comment. LOL I put on my head net, bug spray and headed for the out house, all was going fine, beautiful morning, cool, just a great day. Went inside and then it occurred to me, I am going to have to drop my pants to complete this process. So I decided speed was going to be the answer as the outhouse was full of mosquitoes, they were swarming my head net by this time. Only when I sat down on the toilet lid, did I realize that the toilet pit under me was also full of mosquitoes and they were attacking my unprotected lower area with great vengeance. Think that was the fastest I have ever taken care of my business. My wife thought the entire matter was very funny. The same problem would happen on our fall moose/bears hunts using our river boat. Bugs never bothered her to any real extent but when I showed up in the woods, it was like a bug's Christmas present arriving early.
On edit: We normally figured the first sticking snow of the winter would arrive on or about October 5 each year. (my niece's birthday) We would normally take a weeks family trip with relatives the first week of September on the Denali Hwy and then put the RVs to bed for the winter season. We often had three RVs, including the 5th wheel we kept on our river front lot on the Kenai River so all had to be winterized. The river boat had to be winterized as well, my airplane would get skiis to replace the wheels of summer, the snow machines brought out of storage and tuned up for the winter season and I had to start getting my dog team back in running shape after lazy summer of laying around eating salmon as their main diet. Plus we had to work in a fall hunting trip to stock the freezer with a moose, perhaps a bear and a carabou (caraboo spellling for Suzie), stock our pantry with staples to last most of the winter, get out the family winter clothes, and all this made for a very busy fall time living in Alaska. For winter camping I used a wall tent and it had a wood burning small stove to heat it. Never used our RVs after about mid September but camped much of the year. My wife, a city girl, never took a real liking to winter tent camping so most of that I did by myself out of my airplanes or dog team trips.
