Haida Gwaiiing

Our third adventure of the year was to Haida Gwaii, a series of islands off the northern coast of BC. At the most northen point you can see Alaska on a sunny day! A couple of good friends of ours are in Haida, completeing some field schooling and Mike and I figured that this would be a perfect opportunity to see a part of BC that we might not otherwise have put in the effort to see. It was absolutely worth it!

Highlights included: Hiking the Anvil trail and seeing some ridiculously awesome nature, like, Hobbit rainforest adventure type awesome; staying at Redneck Doug's cabin near Moresby Camp and kayaking there; visiting Toll Hill and the blowholes during a storm!

Did I mention ever that I don't do well in the cold? Did I also mention that the weather in Haida Gwaii is insane? Well, it's not insane, but it is really, really variable. In an average afternoon, it's not uncommon to see sunshine, rain, hail, snow, wind, rain and then sunshine again? I definitely brought along splasher pants and gumboots.

First activity: Hiking the Anvil trail at Tllell

Cathedral-like trees over the river, a la storybook.

Evil black satan mushroom of destruction.

Next day, we drove to Moresby Camp, and investigated the beach. Kaan found a deer head

Then, Mike and I went for a Kayak. We spotted a seal and some giant starfish!

After a night in the cabin, I was stoked on this steaming hot oatmal with apple chunks.

Team hiding photo!

On our way back, we got stuck behind a stuck logging truck. Apparently a coupla logs slid out. They decided to just leave them as-is....

As a thank you to our hosts, I offered that we make them supper. Kaan taught Mike how to make real pasta from scratch!

Outside of Kaan and Tess (and students') rented Cabin at Charlotte City.

We visited a young apprentice carver (Tyler York), who was working on a very special Totem Pole called "Sacred One Standing an Moving" which will be placed in Gwaii Hanas this year. He told us an excellent story about the design of the pole. Definitely click on the link for a radio interview with the master carver.

View from outside of the Charlotte City Cabin. No Biggie.

Team Sphagnum-Ranger!