Trophy Meadows: In the Clouds of Mosquitoes

Sometimes we only think of the big problems and forget the small ones. Prior to this trip we had heard that there was an encounter with a grizzly on the Trophy Meadows Trail, so it was closed for a while. We checked every day for updates online, and Gili called the ranger station a few times. That’s when we found out what the “encounter” was – a grizzly bear had charged someone… Obviously we were concerned. Eventually we heard that the trail was open again, since the grizzly had not been seen for a while. We made sure to bring our bear spray, which expired some years ago though, and we also double checked that there were lockers for food where we were going to camp, and warned Neil not to get his clothes too dirty with food. Thinking of that bear so much we hadn’t thought of a much more dangerous and annoying animal called a mosquito, or in plural mosquitoes and in Wells Gray’s case thousands of them, of the worst type.

We left on Canada Day and the long drive was surprisingly pleasant with nice views from the Coquihalla Highway. We managed to push through in one day and made it almost all the way to Clearwater before camping at North Thompson River Provincial Park. Since it was already the end of the long weekend there were very few other campers around. The evening was a bit chilly and there was even a bit of rain but we woke up to a beautiful morning. Since we were determined to go on our hike we packed everything into the car and off we went.

We made a quick stop at the ranger station where we were warned that we’d have to drive up one of the toughest gravel roads of all times when in fact it was one of the smoothest ones we’ve ever taken to a trailhead. Kai continued sleeping after we parked, so eventually we had to wake him up so we could start hiking. Although we’d never put him in the hiking carrier in the past he seemed to love it and had no problems sitting there looking around.

Just as we started walking we started noticing the bugs. Weird since we were still in the forest at that point. We continued walking to the meadows and it got worse. We stopped for a quick lunch but had to cut it short since we were getting bitten so much. The meadows were beautiful though, with many yellow flowers (glacier lilies) all around. The only relief we had was when we stopped on a ridge just above the lake where we intended to camp. There was a bit of a breeze there and the bugs finally left us alone for a bit. Neil enjoyed scooping ice cream in the snow and Kai enjoyed crawling around.

Then we went down to Sheila Lake and unfortunately there were still many bugs around camp. We set up our tent and made sure to eat as far away from the tent as we could, so as not to attract bears. Neil was the only one who had good protection since as an after thought we had brought his bug shirt. We rushed to finish dinner so we could finally go into the tent where we had some peace and quiet from mosquitoes. We could see the piles of them outside our tent and sighed in relief that we had the mesh as a barrier between us and the enemy.

During the might I kept on having dreams of a grizzly coming by our tent so I can’t say I had the best night. Kai kept on waking up too and was somewhat uncomfortable. In the morning the bugs were just as bad. I also remembered that the forecast predicted rain the next day. We originally planned to stay three days, but we managed to get a bar of reception and checked the forecast. It seemed like rain was indeed coming and taking everything into account we decided to head down on that day.

We broke camp and Neil hiked like a trooper and we didn’t make any stops till we reached the car. Then we wondered what to do. Although we’d only left Vancouver two days before it seemed like we’d been away for very long. We decided to stay at least one more night at Wells Gray and see what the weather would bring.

The weather brought a lot of rain unfortunately. On that afternoon it started to rain and we had to set up camp in the rain and cook dinner under the tarp. The rain also didn’t make the mosquitoes go away! So we were both wet and getting bitten, not a good combo. In the tent I noticed Neil’s face was very swollen and his ear looked very red and about twice its size. I asked him how he was feeling and he assured me he was feeling fine and nothing bothered him. Tough kid. I was getting worried though.

The night was very peaceful. It was raining all night, but I guess it calmed Kai because it was one of the only nights he has slept through. In the morning I discovered a big pile of bear poo by our site.

The campground had a trail leading to Dawson Falls and although at first Neil wasn’t motivated to hike we managed to convince him and he hiked very nicely. The falls were impressive and even Kai enjoyed it. Then back at the campground we had lunch, packed everything and drove to Helmcken Falls. By then Neil was exhausted and was on the verge of a complete meltdown. The weather did not seem like it was going to improve and since morale was a bit low we decided to head back home.

We started driving around 2pm and both kids fell asleep in no time. We stopped in Merritt at our traditional Boston Pizza spot and it was pouring. It didn’t feel like July at all, it felt more as if we were returning from skiing at Big White or something. We had to make another stop at a playground in Hope for some play and running around time, there it wasn’t rainy anymore. In fact as we got closer and closer to home it got drier and drier – the opposite of usual. Weird.

We were so happy to be back home. In retrospect I think we had classic type 2 fun. The hike itself was beautiful and without the bugs it’s a classic hike with kids. It was also our first time doing a multi-day hike with the two kids and overall it went very well. It was just a good reminder not to forget the small things, like mosquitoes, but also to appreciate the small things like flowers in the meadows, being protected in the the tent, listening to the rain during the night and enjoying time with the little ones. A couple of weeks after this trip I asked Neil if he enjoyed this hike he looked at me confused and with no hesitation he answered “of course”. The whole mosquito experience definitely left us more traumatized than the kids…