Day 5 of Not Showering

I wish I could say that not-showering keeps the mosquitos away, but that would be a lie. We went up a hill just west of downtown Dease Lake (just north of the airport), and took a look at some outcrops, learned how to use the station data sheets and our compasses and stuff. The first few minutes were great, and then the mosquitos and noseeums came down to feast on our flesh for lunch. Taking a strike and a dip with those fancy compasses is tricky enough, making sure the bubbles are level and whatnot, but to do that while swatting away 7 mosquitos from your hand, another 10 from each leg and probably 15 on your face is a bit annoying. Ugh. Bug dope tomorrow for SURE. I just don't wanna use too much until I can wash it off at night. Apparently the mosquito situation will get better as the summer goes on. At least until August when the blackflies come out...

We should have a shower by tomorrow though, which is exciting. That'll be lovely after our first actual traverse (by truck, not chopper). Today we just did a few stops, after doing some errands around town (looking for something airtight to store bear spray in while in the chopper, picking up our wireless router, giving our names and weights to the chopper company). Oh, and apparently this chopper company is super legit. They have this sky-tracking system where they watch where all the choppers are at all times, and continually log location coordinates and airspeeds and whatnot. It's pretty fancy, we got to see it today at their office. It makes me less concerned that I might be left alone in the forest for days if there was an accident.