They're Baaaaack

Ick

The summer of 2014, when I was training to ride the Red-Bell 100, was a bad year for tent caterpillars. These fuzzy critters hatch out from nests in alder, willow or fruit trees then swarm all over. In some places they were so thick on the pavement that I couldn't avoid running over them, which is nasty because they splattered all over the underside of my bike, and even worse, on my shins and knees.

Out of curiosity I did a little research on Google and Wikipedia, and learned that tent caterpillars have a roughly seven-year boom and bust life cycle, where their population builds up to a peak, then dies down. Lucky me: 2014 was a peak summer.

The buggers died back after that, and I never saw more than a few caterpillars here and there, and no nests near the roads or trails where I ride or walk. By 2021 I was waiting to see the population building again, but the awful swarms haven't come back yet. I suppose because of unusual weather patterns, and a few summers of wild fires farther back in the hills, which might have prevented nests from spreading. I can't exactly call it a bright side to climate change, but .... 

Any how, it looks like they're coming back now. At least we don't have cicadas in the Pacific Northwest.