MANLEY HOT SPRINGS — It’s so quiet in these spruce hills and tamarack swamps that 27 hours and 50 miles passed between when Forest Wagner and I said goodbye to one human being at Old Minto and hello to the next near Baker.

Space is in ample supply here on these pressed-in snow trails between towns and villages of Interior Alaska.

Forest and I are out here riding these ephemeral ribbons of blue-white moving westward, with a goal of reaching Nome.

Last Saturday, when it warmed to minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit, I lurched my loaded fat bike out of my home in Fairbanks. Saying goodbye to my wife and dogs, I rumbled eastward on a boot-packed trail that after a mile led to a plowed bike path. I then rolled through the familiar University of Alaska Fairbanks campus and onward 8 miles to Forest’s cabin.

He handed me a mug of coffee and an egg sandwich. Then we started pedaling our fat bikes down Chena Pump Road until we reached the Tanana River.

We found a trail groomed for a multi-sport winter race, turned right, and headed downstream on our home river, there half a mile wide. It was a day when the weather finally nodded toward spring. Fair-a-dise showed up with bluebird skies as the day warmed to 8 degrees Fahrenheit.

After a month of pillowy snows and crazy cold temperatures and re-telling people our new takeoff days to semi-suppressed eye rolls, we were finally unstuck from the glue of town.

If an object wasn’t hanging off our bikes, we didn’t need it. No more fiddling with the load or obsessing on the 7-day weather forecast. Just big ol’ tires humming on dry snow.

Now, five days and 145 miles later, Forest and I are digesting French toast and bacon our friend Steve O’Brien cooked for us as we wait on the dryer in the Manley washeteria. When we get a few dollar bills we will take showers.

It’s a good life here on the trail, just-add-water living at its finest. Eat everything in front of you, apply some sunblock and keep mashing on the pedals.

Steve O’Brien is one of the many people helping us move westward. In one of the most clutch moments, my wife Kristen and our friend Jen Wenrick appeared wearing headlamps on the packed snow ramp off the Tanana River in Nenana. They handed us burgers and fries from the Monderosa.

After a surprise tough day due to soft trail that had us working real hard, those burgers and Cokes were like oxygen.

There have been many other acts of kindness from Jenna and David Jonas, Steve Ketzler, Forest’s dad Joe Wagner and others. Tonic for the body and soul.

We will meet more excellent people, including some old friends, as we ratchet toward Nome.

When my satellite tracker is on, you can see our arrow creeping across the landscape here: https://share.garmin.com/NedRozell.

Residents in the San Gabriel Valley are contending with a dramatic surge in black flies, a painful little pest known for biting around the eyes and necks of people and pets.

The San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District issued a warning this week advising residents of a spike in black fly activity in foothill communities including Altadena, Azusa, Bradbury, Duarte, Glendora, Monrovia, San Dimas and Sierra Madre. The flies develop quickly in flowing waters, where females will lay 200 to 500 fertilized eggs at a time.

“Black flies are currently very active in the San Gabriel Valley, and many residents are feeling overwhelmed,” the district said in a statement. “Right now, populations are increasing due to favorable conditions, and black flies can travel up to five miles from where they emerge, which is why they’re being seen throughout the community.”

The district is treating river breeding sites to reduce populations, but warns this might take several weeks to take effect.

In the meantime, residents are advised to take protective measures such as wearing long pants and long sleeves and using protective netting over one’s face. People should also consider using DEET-containing repellent on exposed skin and turning off personal water features such as decorative fountains for 24 hours once a week, according to the district.

The bugs, measuring two to three millimeters, are so small they can be hard to see. Still, their bite can pack a painful punch.

Azusa resident Constance Yu described the persistent bugs as “like little demons but tiny,” while she swatted away the critters during an interview with CBS News this week.

Though the flies cause discomfort, they are not known to transmit diseases in L.A. County, according to the vector control district.

Spikes in black fly activity are often caused by scheduled water releases from upstream dams, which are necessary for the region’s water management but also create ideal breeding conditions for the pests.

The district monitors and sprays pesticides at breeding sites — including local rivers, streams and locations such as Morris Dam — and sets traps in foothill communities to track the population size and minimize the effects on residents.

This time last year, surveillance traps had single-digit counts of black flies. Now they are capturing more than 500 flies at a time, district spokesperson Anais Medina Diaz told LAist.

Diaz also said it is usual to see such so much fly activity this time of year, noting that the uptick is probably connected to the recent record-setting heat wave. Southern California is experiencing the hottest March on record, leading to a surge in snow runoff from the mountains.

“We are experiencing them now because of the warmer temperatures we’ve been having,” Diaz said. “And of course, all the water that’s going down through the river, we have a high flow of water that is not typical for this time of year.”

The black flies are not the only troublesome creature acting up during the unseasonably warm weather.

The Southland has also seen more rattlesnakes, with two recent human fatalities, as the early heat draws more serpents onto hiking trails. Toasty ocean temperatures have been linked to a great white shark sighting in Newport Beach that prompted a temporary beach closure Thursday.