Photo of the Week – Haida Gwaii

“If you drink these waters you will one day find yourself back on Haida Gwaii” Or so the legend goes.

If that’s true, then I can look forward to numerous return trips to these enchanted islands; I used this spring to fill my MSR Dromedary bags full. In June of 2004 I took a solo trip to the islands to explore as much of the islands as I felt comfortable with. My original intention had been to do a loop through the islands but it’s rugged, exposed, and being solo I opted for instead making my way to the west side for a few days of exploring.

Just getting to the islands turned out to be an adventure with an extended ferry ride from Port Hardy up to Prince Rupert where I had a cart malfunction on a Sunday when everything is closed. From Prince Rupert I caught another ferry out to Skidegate, but not before spending a very uncomfortable night in the terminal waiting for the ferry’s pluming to be repaired; our 9pm departure was delayed till 4am the next morning.

Still it’s a wonderful place to paddle and I’m looking forward to it’s magical waters pulling me back.