July 12
After our one-night stay at Water’s Edge, we backtracked into town to empty the tanks and fill up with fresh water. Needless to say it was not something to look forward to because of the mosquitoes. Jeff and I were eaten alive and I ran back into the truck as soon as I connected the water hose. We also stopped by the gas station to fill up – that’s also the grocery store, the liquor store and a restaurant. It seems to be the hub and everyone knew everyone. Not surprisingly the fuel prices are quite high…
Onward to Boya Lake! The drive was beautiful – nothing but mountains, lakes and wildflowers along the highway.
We saw a bear, rabbits, foxes and grouse along the highway. During our drive we passed a number of lakes that spanned many kilometers – Dease Lake, Kinaskan Lake, Gnat Lake, Meziadin Lake. In areas where the road is bad, there is a small red sign warning drivers to go slow.
We stopped by Jade City which is mining town named for the rich jade deposits in the area. The population is approximately 20 people and we visited the main store in town that is a family run business since 1985. The children picked up some jade souvenirs. Apparently, BC supplies 90% of the world’s jade. In addition to jade mining, there is a fair bit of gold mining in the area.
We arrived at Ta Chi’ila, better known as Boya Lake. Boya Lake is known for the glaciated landscape and turquoise water. We were lucky to find an available spot along the lake.
Jeff spoke to the camping neighbours who complained about the bugs – that somehow the mosquitoes find their way into the trailer… Jeff didn’t seem too bothered by it since we’ve been seeing mosquitoes all along. We went for a dip into the lake and the water wasn’t that cold. There were many people in canoes, kayaks and SUPs. We made another attempt at introducing Harry to the water – nope, his paws were thrashing in the water like a mad dog.
As dusk approached, the mosquitoes started swarming around the screen door – no one wanted to open the door but we had to so we sprayed bug repellant on the screen. That night as we got ready for bed, we did a mosquito sweep. There seemed to be a lot of mosquitoes in the trailer – did they get in each time we opened the screen door throughout the day? Everyone was killing mosquitoes and there were so many! As soon as we turned off the lights, the buzzing would start again – lights on, kill mosquitos, lights off. The cycle of lights on, kill, lights off continued for a while… It seemed futile as there were too many mosquitoes – they were indeed coming into the trailer but how?! We went to bed with the covers over our heads trying to ignore the chorus of buzzing around. Frustrated, I turned on the light after 10 minutes and saw at least a dozen mosquitoes above the headboard. How is this even possible? Jeff and I killed more mosquitoes but by this time we were quite tired and simply left the blood splattered mosquito smears on the wall. I put a t-shirt over my head and went to bed. Jeff tried to sleep under the covers but it was too warm and so he slept on the couch and covered himself from head to toe to prevent further bites.
After an uncomfortable sleep, we packed up at 6:15am… No breakfast (except for Harry), no teeth brushing, no hair combing – we left Boya Lake as fast as we could which is such a pity as it is a beautiful place.
We are now back at Meziaden Lake trying to figure out what we are going to do before we catch the ferry to Haida Gwaii on the 19th… but the first order of business is to rid the 5th wheel of all the mosquitoes we brought from Boya Lake. We probably killed close to 50 mosquitoes and that is not an exaggeration!
July 13
Last evening after we finished dinner, we were informed by the Park Operator that a big group was on their way to the park. They are the Warrior Walkers – a group from the northern indigenous communities walking from Whitehorse to Kamloops as part of the healing process and raising awareness of the lost children from the residential schools. I forgot to mention that there is a group of cyclists going from Vancouver to Tuktuyuktuk, we were with them at a few different campsites.
We leave for Terrace tomorrow morning and hope to get a spot at Lake Lakesle. We will be going to the laundromat and restocking supplies.
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