Most people agree that the biting bugs in question are stable flies. "They are 100% stable flies! I had to leave Col Sam Smith with my dog. He was covered in them!" wrote one local.

Carol Ann Kearns, Anthophilous Fly Distribution Across an Elevation Gradient, The American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 127, No. 1 (Jan., 1992), pp. 172-182 ...