Leg 4: Prince Rupert to Kinaskan Lake
6 July 2022
After sleeping in a comfy bed, we hoped to wake up well rested and ready to rumble. Those hopes were dashed quickly by Corbin waking up with cold symptoms and my enduring stomach ache. But we pulled ourselves together and headed out to do some final preparations before leaving civilization for two days.
Driving around Prince Rupert, I was surprised to see quite a few storefronts with Chinese characters. It seems that there’s a decently sized Chinese-Canadian population there.
We found a quaint cafe and attempted in vain to use their wifi to post this blog (hence the delays). This would be a recurring problem throughout the trip. “Wifi” often seemed to exist in theory, but was so slow that it might as well not exist at all.
Our next stop was a Safeway, where we restocked our breakfast and dinner food, as well as ice for the cooler. We were both struggling and made two trips into the store in order to get everything. We then debated where to get water: buy it at the grocery store or go back to the hostel and get it for free? We decided on the hostel, but after arriving we learned that their tap water wasn’t safe to drink, so I found a water jug in the lobby and emptied it into our water bottles (they had more jugs).
Finally, at almost noon, we were able to start driving. Siobhan took the first leg as we listened to a true crime podcast about a missing indigenous woman from Montana named Jermaine Charlo. We were enraptured by the tragic story and the drive went by very quick. Eventually we got to Meziadin Junction, with a turnoff to head west towards Stewart, Alaska,
or North towards the Yukon (out route). We stopped here for gas and to stretch our legs. A bike packer with a French accent asked us for a ride south, but we were headed the wrong direction. So many bike packers!
Corbin started driving and shortly after leaving we saw a brown bear foraging next to the road. We whizzed right past without a chance to take a picture though. We stopped for gas at a heli-skiing lodge and saw what we believed was a guided helicopter hunting tour unloading.
Around Bell Two Lodge
After several hours of uneventful driving, we pulled into Kinaskan Lake campground. We chose a charming campsite by the lake, and began happily setting up camp. However, our moods quickly began to sour when we noticed that a few pesky mosquitos had grown into an outright swarm of doom. Despite Corbin’s mom’s explicit warning that the mosquitos would be terrible, we were still aghast and unprepared for the sheer number of flying disease-ridden phlebotomists. Corbin had an electric fly swatter that made a “pop” sound every time it zapped a fly. As I swung it around, it popped more often than a bag of popcorn in the microwave. The swatter barely made a dent, but it provided us with a feeling of macabre retribution.
After quickly setting up camp and making dinner, a distant rumble of thunder became louder and louder. Before long, the sky darkened and we felt raindrops, so we sat under a tarp and marveled at the storm while idly swatting mosquitos. Eventually, we decided it was best to watch the lighting and thunder not outside and waited out the storm in the comfort of the truck.
When the rain stopped, we dove into the tent as fast as possible to keep mosquitos out. As the sun flirted with the horizon at 10pm, we listened to the concluding episodes of the podcast from earlier, learning as we fell asleep that the murderer from the story was still on the loose… goodnight!😴
