Day 1 - Kibbee Lake & Indianpoint Lake

Okay, let's get this out of the way right now: Day 1 and 2 did not go well. In fact, they were downright miserable. If the whole trip had been like Day 1 and 2, I would have had a nervous breakdown. However, in the end I was totally happy and grateful for the opportunity and truthfully, the first two days had a lot to do with that. If I knew then what I know now, yes, I would do it again. This trip was AWESOME. But... the first two days were not.

Let me back up a bit. So, before Day 1 even started, we were to spend the night in the Bowron Lakes Provincial Campground. This was a great idea because if anyone had problems with equipment, or forgot something, or didn't prepare properly, they would know before we really got into it.

We arrived in the campground after visiting the Barkerville Cemetery and people were setting up their tents and getting re-acquainted. As soon as we stepped out of our vehicle, we were encompassed with huge clouds of mosquitoes. Voracious mosquitoes, and they were everywhere. According to the locals, it was the worst they had ever seen in ten years with something like 10 times the amount of bugs they'd seen last year. In any case, it was bad. We did what we could to fight them off: we kept moving, some people broke out the DEET, and we put on our mosquito face nets, which turned out to be rather ineffective.

We got down to business and started setting up our tent. Much to our dismay, the tent that Quina brought for the two of us to share, had faulty cord inside the tent poles. The tent was only a few years old but the cord had become dry & brittle, and had no elasticity. This was a rather large concern for us given that it was our shelter! While we were able to stretch, cut and tie the cord so that the poles would stay together, we didn't know how long that method would last us over 8 days. It turned out to be fine, although each time we set-up camp we worried if our luck had run out.

So off to sleep we went, with an early 6am rise the next day. It was officially Day 1! We were a little frantic around camp since we had to arrive at Registration & Orientation by a certain time or we'd be bumped to a later start time. Lance wanted to get going, and we just wanted to get away from those bugs!

One of our group, Doug, was wearing a "mosquito shirt" which is like a light jacket with material that is impenetrable to bugs, and comes with a hood that fits loosely over your face. He said it was great, and so when Lance had to make a trip down to the store, Quina and I went down and purchased some shirts of our own (and one for Erin too). It was the best $60 I have ever spent! A very, very good investment. I came back with a ton of bites, but none where that shirt had covered me. It worked like a charm. Not to mention, both Quina & I were reluctant to put DEET (you know, the stuff that melts plastic) on our skin. The mosquito shirts were fantastic.

So, we headed to Registration and Orientation where they give you a map, a garbage bag (everything you take in, must come out with you!), and make you watch a video. I just loved the part where they show a bear attacking a tent. Moral of the story? Don't put food in your tent. Still, that freaked me out a bit. I thought perhaps I wouldn't be able to sleep for fear of bears attacking the tent, but turns out that I was too exhausted to care. Several times on the trip I was so tired that if a bear had come along, I would have probably lied down and said "go ahead." I was too tired to worry about bears. Plus, there were fourteen of us, and we weren't exactly quiet.

After Orientation, we weighed our stuff. They only allow you to pack a certain amount of weight into your canoe for the portages; the rest you have to carry on your back. We were lucky enough to have canoe carts, which are wheels that you strap onto the bottom of your canoe so that you can push it through the portage trails rather than carry the canoe and then have to go back for a 2nd trip to get all of your stuff. If we had to carry those canoes, well, let's just say... I probably would have died. I have total respect for all the people that have ever done that, but it is way beyond my capacity. :P

So, the first portage was the longest. 2.4 km to Kibbee Lake. In the rain. Imagine carrying a pack on your back so heavy that if someone pushes your shoulder, you fall over. And then you are going uphill, and it's raining, and you have a huge heavy canoe with a bunch of gear in it. And even though there's two of you, if one of you makes an unanticipated move, the other person goes flying off the trail. Or perhaps the canoe hits a rock, or a hole, or a huge puddle, and goes over, with your stuff all over the ground. Or the cart gets dislodged. Or you drive it into the ditch. Or someone ahead of you stops at the top of a hill and you can't put your canoe down or it will go sliding all the way back down.

I came home with a lot of bruises.

The worst part of the portaging for me was the carrying of my huge, heavy pack and going uphill while pushing a heavy canoe. My poor cardio was pushed to the limit those times. It was really, really hard. Thank goodness for some of the guys in our group who stepped up to help those of us that were having a tough time. :)

When we got to Kibbee Lake, the rain had mostly stopped and I was able to take a few photos. It was already breathtakingly beautiful. I've been camping before, but nothing like this. Unspoiled riches of BC wilderness. It was awesome.

We started our paddle across this small 2.3 km lake and halfway across, we heard it: thunder. Uh oh. Here we go! Paddling in the bow with Quina in the stern, we tried to step it up a notch given that the rainstorm was coming and most of our group was ahead of us. We made it to the other side only to begin another portage, this one 2.1 km and no less difficult. I was already exhausted - in fact I was fatigued long before. However, we made it to Indianpoint Lake, paddled another 3 km and found our campsite (#7).

Setting up camp in the rain is... not so fun. That night, I think Quina & I went to bed at 6:30pm. No joke. I didn't eat much for dinner, and I was too tired to make anything. I was cold, wet and miserable.

And the next day would be even worse.



(Day 1 Photos here.)