A woman who lived in a floating village reveals how she got groceries and mail to the remote Canadian settlement

Hutch — who is originally from Kitchner, a small city in Ontario, Canada — lived in Rivers Inlet, British Columbia, on and off for two years, she told Insider. The small village was made up of nine other people with homes built entirely on floating logs.  

When Hutch and her boyfriend, Jonathan Brakefield, joined the community in April 2021, their job was to develop the properties into what is now Finn Bay Lodge. The couple moved to the remote floating village because Brakefield had previously worked at a different fishing lodge in the area and loved it, she said.

While she didn't live at Rivers Inlet the whole two years — Hutch said she switched off between there and her second home in Torio, Panama, every few months — she loved her time on the water and shared the whole experience on TikTok, where she has 39,000 followers and posted about life in the Inlet. 

Plus during COVID, "it felt better to be in a remote, small area as opposed to a city," she told Insider.

Rivers Inlet — which is on the territory of the indigenous community of the Wuikinuxv Nation — is known for its fishing, according to British Columbia's website. It's around 30 miles long with a few rivers feeding it (the Kilbella River, the Chuckwalla River, and the Wannock River), but Hutch measures it by boat ride: "Everything is about a 30-minute boat ride away, and the head of the Inlet is around an hour and a half," she said.

Instead of typically renting a home on land, people get 10- or 15-year leases from the Wuikinuxv Nation to live in Rivers Inlet. "It's like you're renting the water in front of the land," Hutch explained. 

Formerly, it was a major fishing area with large salmon runs but now it's a fishing and wildlife getaway, according to Land Without Limits. 

The area is filled with little islands and is "absolutely beautiful," Hutch said.

The closeby village of the Wuikinuxv Nation had a population of 90 in 2016, but around 9 people lived in Hutch's floating village while she was there, she told Insider. 

"This place is so much more remote than anywhere I've ever been in my life. It definitely feels like things can go wrong very easily," she said.

When they arrived at Dawsons Landing, a general store and landing for the float plane, the manager told her, "Skittish will be happy to see you," Hutch recalled. 

"I thought it was a seal, or anything other than a bear," Hutch said. She looked, and there was a grizzly bear on the floats at Dawsons Landing. 

The couple set up camp with a grill, and had a steak dinner as the bear sat a few meters away, feasting on mussels, she said. 

"I was like, 'This is incredible. I'm also scared. Where am I? This is wild,'" she added. 

The bears are usually harmless and move along, but if there's a food source, they'll stay until the source runs out, Hutch said.

Hutch shared a lot about the community on TikTok, including how the floating homes are attached to the land via larger logs called "boomsticks" that connect to the land and are secured together with industrial chains. 

The homes themselves are built on huge floating logs, which keep the cabins above water, Hutch explained. They need constant maintenance because they're slowly sinking — you have to always make sure they're floating.

They can last around 50 years, Hutch estimated, but at a point, they become a liability.

"You have to tear it apart and get rid of it because these things can't just die into the ocean," Hutch said.

The homes have a rustic, Canadian lumberjack feel, Hutch said. Plus, there are no sidewalks — you just walk on the logs. 

Cars aren't a thing either. Hutch had a boat, affectionately called Tubby, which she would use to get around, she said.

"We loved seeing the barge because it's like you have a little bit of civilization," she told Insider. 

She'd preorder with a worker, and they'd deliver the goods with a crane. They would bring gas, generators, fresh food, and frozen food, she explained. Her TikTok video about getting icecream from the barge has 375,000 views as of writing. 

While Hutch and her boyfriend had a good experience with the barge, they kept a supply of backup canned items, just in case — one of their neighbors once couldn't get groceries because the barge couldn't reach them due to ice, Hutch said.

Most of the people who live there don't really use the barge.

"I think they'll take a boat to Port Hardy (the nearest community) and load up on their groceries twice a year," Hutch said. Otherwise, they live off what's there, such as fresh seafood.

They can get post sent through Canadian Mail, which is delivered by the barge or collected through a local store accessible by boat.

Getting a professional flown in due to plumbing or electrical problems is expensive and almost impossible, so Hutch said her boyfriend did most of the work. Plus, the community helped each other out.

Her nearest neighbor was a 20-minute boat ride away, and the general store was a 30-minute boat ride away, she said. 

Everyone had their own little area, but they all relied on each other. "You're the new person in the Inlet, so everybody wants to meet you. You get to meet people really quickly," she said. 

Everyone checked up on each other to make sure no one's fallen in the water, she added. 

It was also important to socialize, as you can go stir-crazy in a cabin by yourself, she said. One neighbor would often pop by and ask if they'd want to fish with him, she recalled.

There were times when it rained for days on end, she said. She wore rubber rain gear and treated it like a normal day because she said if she stayed inside too long, she'd get a little depressed.

She dealt with solitude by calling friends and family, and incredibly even had a WiFi connection.

As much as she loved her time at Rivers Inlet, Hutch said she could only do a couple of months at a time since she's such a social person.

Truthfully, she doesn't think she could've done it without her boyfriend. "It's so remote that it would be almost scary," she said.

While Hutch recently left Rivers Inlet in June 2023 for a new adventure in Haida Gwaii, an archipelago in British Columbia, she said she'll miss the freedom of Rivers Inlet, calling it a no-judgment zone.

"When you live in a city, I think people have higher expectations of themselves and their peers," she told Insider. "But there, you're on your own and nobody's watching you."

You can follow Hutch on TikTok here.