The rain that’s been predicted all week has finally arrived, and it is an outpouring from the skies. We sleep in, a welcome chill day after many days of early mornings and windy paddling. I read my moss book in bed and look out my tent window at the giant cedar, so happy to relax…
Hot Springs on the Edge of the World: Kayaking Day 6 – Gandll K’in Gwaay.yaay (Hot Spring Island)
Now that all the sightseeing and tours are finished (the good weather and hard paddling we’ve done in the first half of the trip means we hit all our itinerary points ahead of schedule), this is basically just a sweet camping trip with my new friends. We have a chill sleep in (waking at 7:30am…
Real Relaxation: Kayaking Day 5 – Windy Crossings and Nap Beach
Blustery and chilly and tired but still surrounded by water and huge trees, so still happy. I’m sitting beside a massive cedar that must be at least 800 years old, its base as wide as my car. Though it’s a blustery day and I feel creaky and depleted, I am so happy to be here…
Thousand Year Trees and the Protests that Protected Them: Kayaking Day 4 – Hlk’yah GawGa (Windy Bay)
How did I forget? Yes I love paddling and am so stoked to learn about the ocean and the Haida culture and history, but as soon as we went walking through this ancient forest I remembered…I just love the trees. They are the real reason I came here. I lay against their massive trunks or…
Mind Blowing Haida History Lessons: Kayaking Day 3 – T’aanuu Llnagaay (Tanu)
Our schedule has shifted to an efficient one: 6:30am wakeup call (ethereal flute played by Devjeet), 7am coffee and breakfast, then pack up tents and belongings, carry the boats to the water, load them with our stuff, and start paddling by 9-9:30. Paddle a few hours, taking advantage of the calm waters that always arrive…
Geology of the Edge of the World: Kayaking Day 2
How a “transform boundary” is really a transformational boundary between worlds, plus paddling through giant kelp and eating Moroccan food on the beach in the middle of nowhere.
What are those totem poles all about? Kayaking Day 1: K’uuna Llnagaay (Skedans)
Awake at 5:30 am to pack my drybags, squeezing tights, raincoats, trailmix and ziplocked notebooks into 5 tiny 10L rolltops. Cross the 20 minute ferry to Moresby Island, my first time on the southern island of Haida Gwaii, and get to know the rest of my kayaking group in a 14 passenger bus as we…
Hiking up the Stairway to Heaven
The sun lied and shone on our faces as we packed for the hike, teasing us with her warmth into thinking we’d get to hang out all day. We were lost before we even got to the trailhead, navigating the pothole/lake-filled washboard roads, looking for wood cut signs amidst the shrubs to mark the way. When…
Eating beach plants with Kamil and his goat
(See the first half of this visit here) After lunch we leave to walk the beach, and Kamil sighs. “In 3 years here, already 15 feet of beach disappear. The water keep rising. Ice caps keep melting. Your generation, you need to learn be independent. How to find wood to burn. How to cook your…
Kamil’s recipes for a good life
The first thing I smell is fresh cedar, like being inside a hot sauna but crisper, mixed with sea air. I see an axe swing high and land – THUD, crack! “Hi Kamil!” “Hello girl! Come in! We will make tea!” Walking past stacks of cedar and piles of greens for his goat, I go up…
