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…
Ruckus Raven
I am reading on my porch when the quiet is broken by the heavy flap of raven’s wings. He settles in the tall tree above the chicken coop. The nine hens and single rooster are silent as usual in the morning; they amble around, lazily pecking the ground. But then the raven starts. His CAW…
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…
Making Friends, or, how I met a Soviet Indigenous healer picking berries on the roadside.
“Excuse me – do you know what these berries are?” His eyes light up as he turns. “Yes!!!” He opens his wrinkled hands over mine and sun coloured giant berries land in them. “Salmon berries! Deeeeeelicious! Absolutely phenomenal for jam!”
Building the Dream Machine: Converting A Car into a House
How to convert a Volkswagen Passat Wagon in to an awesome adventure machine for camping, road trips, and living free.
“Absolutely nothing going on at all.” – Arriving in Haida Gwaii
Leaving the 7 hour ferry, I drive to my new home to find the door unlocked, lights on and a note on how to contact my hosts, a grandmother currently visiting her daughter on the mainland. I wander room to plant filled room, big windows shining and original wood floors creaking. I’m in heaven.
