I don't normally head back out to the Nevada gold fields until after labor day / Burning man is past - just because of the heat. The shady high country in California is just nicer when the weather is generally hot.
However I was reading last night about bugs infesting the folks constructing the Burning man site - which is not all that far from the placer areas. Although the geology of the burning man area is different, the desert environment is the same.
I just thought I'd let anyone planning on prospecting in that region that there is a bug problem and its not pretty.
The bugs fly, they invade your personal space ( according to one guy, "They crawl all over you. They get up and in you"), they bite and they stink. They bite like a mosquito - only they are not searching for blood, but water. To these bugs, you are a big bag of water to be extracted through your skin.
They take water from plants or wherever they can get it, and like a mosquito, they leave a welt.
In all the years I've been out there, I've not seen or had problems with bugs like this, but this has been the wettest year for summer rains that I have seen in the 35 years I have lived in Nevada. Apparently, the regular waterings from the sky have created an explosion in various bug species. Although its been a couple months since I have been out that way, the weeds were growing at an amazing rate when I was last there, I guess the bugs followed.
I figure I may wait a bit for the cold weather to knock them down.
For those who want more info - see:
http://gizmodo.com/weve-identified-those-bugs-infesting-burning-man-and-1725287661
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/swarms-bugs-infest-site-burning-man-festival-n413136