Haida Gwaii, more commonly known to the outside world as the Queen Charlotte Islands, are a triangular archipelago of hundreds of islands (just how many depends on what size of rock you call an island). They’re the ancestral home of the Haida, the coastal First Nations people who’ve inhabited this area for thousands of years. The heart of the Queen Charlottes is made up of two large islands—Graham to the north, and Moresby to the south, and four other main islands: Langara, Louise, Lyell, and Kunghit. The larger islands are bordered by two mountain ranges to the west and are separated from the mainland by the stormy Hecate Strait. Smack dab in the middle of the most active earthquake area in Canada, the Queen Charlottes are an otherworldly mix of snow-top mountains and fiords that plunge into the sea, mist-enshrouded forests, and windswept sandy beaches.

Robert Bringhurst, in his amazing Story as Sharp as a Knife describes the Charlottes:

According to Haida legend, these island are the place where time began. The even older name for this area, Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai means "Islands at the Boundary of the World." Archeologists date the first human habitation to over 7,000 years ago, while Haida legends all start with the Raven, 10,000 year ago, creating the world here and filling it with the first Haida (he found them hiding in a clam shell).

The cedar trees that covered the islands were perfect for carving. The Haida had no written language, but they expressed themselves beautifully through their art: villages were filled with intricately decorated canoes, longhouses, and totem poles.

The land was good to the Haida; they grew and prospered here until it just got too crowded. There may have been as many as 30,000 people crowded into the island chain, so the people in northern villages left in a series of canoe migrations to what are now the southern islands of Alaska.

First Haida contact with Europeans came in the late 1700s—the contact sparked the same disasters as were repeated many times across the world: waves of smallpox epidemics decimated the population. Entire lineages were wiped out, villages emptied. Settlers from the mainland, social and governmental changes all took additional tolls on the Haida: by 1915, the estimated population of 7,000 people in the 1700s had been reduced to less than a tenth that.

Today, there are no cities on the islands and only a few small settlements, but fully half the population is Haida, and traditions are strong here.

The reason to go to the Charlottes is to get away, to escape the busy outside world and sink back into a land that’s almost primordial. There’s a spiritual and almost mystical air here.

The Charlottes offer an otherworldly landscape of snowy mountains, dramatic fiords, misty forests and windswept beaches punctuated by ancient First Nations villages dissolving back into the earth. Appealingly isolated, the islands, sometimes called the Galapagos of the North, are covered with rare subspecies of plants and animals, including the world’s largest black bear, rare mosses, and river otters and saw-whet owls found only in the Charlottes. The west coastlines are rocky and studded with coves; on the east, sandy desolate beaches lure even the most hardened beachcombers. Seventeen species of whales and dolphins pass through the waters surrounding Haida Gwaii; almost half of British Columbia’s population of sea lions feed and breed here as well. The middle of the islands are covered with rainforests filled with giant cedars peppered with bald eagles.

Transport

Haida Gwaii is accessible by B.C. Ferries, 888- 223-3779, and via air from Prince Rupert and Vancouver. There is a small cluster of towns near the port of entry. Visitors arriving via ferry sail into Skidegate, the main gateway of the Charlottes, at the southeast tip of Graham Island. There are six sailings per week to and from Prince Rupert in the summer months (June to mid-October) and three days per week the rest of the year. Reservations are strongly suggested for the six-hour trip, especially if you’re bringing a vehicle.

The ferry terminal is 2 km south of Skidgate, and 5 km east of Queen Charlotte City. Ferries to Prince Rupert make a once a week stop in Port Hardy, at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, so it’s possible to do a two-part sailing from Vancouver Island to the Queen Charlottes.

There is also a local ferry connecting Skidgate to Allisford Bay (nine miles south of Sandspit) on Moresby Island. The ferry makes frequent trips between 7 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. daily. The 20-minute trip gives visitors spectacular views of the busy Skidegate Inlet. It’s cheaper if you purchase books of passenger and vehicle tickets at the booth at Skidegate.

The main airport, at Sandspit has daily flights arriving from both Vancouver ( via Air B.C. 800-665-1177 or Canadian West Airlines 866-835-9292) and Prince Rupert (via Harbour Air, 250-559-0052). Hawkair, 866-429-5247 or 800-487-1216, also offers service from Prince Rupert to a smaller airport at Masset. Other commercial air services, such as float plane and helicopter are available at Sandspit, Queen Charlotte City, and Masset. Try South Moresby Air Charters 250-559-4222; Vancouver Island Helicopters 250-637-5344.

A local airport bus meets and transports all passengers at Sandspit to Queen Charlotte City (5 km west of the airport, $14 per person. Taxis are also available; Bruce’s Taxi 250-637-5655; Eagle Cab 250-559-4461; Pete’s Taxi 250-559-8622.

To best explore the islands, you’ll need a car. If you’re planning to rent, both Budget 800-577-3228 and Thrifty 250-637-2299 have offices at the Skidgate airport. Rustic 250-559-4641 and Twin 250-559-8700 are in Queen Charlotte City. Prices start at $60 per day plus mileage—in high season, make reservations well in advance.

The Islands

Because the airport is in the middle of the islands, we’re describing the Charlottes from the north to the south, starting at Masset, the largest town in Haida Gwaii, on the northern end of Graham Island, near the Dixon Entrance.

Masset

Masset, accessible by air or via Highway 16, 110 km from Skidegate, is the oldest municipality in Haida Gwaii, dating to 1909. Originally named Graham City, for the Graham Steamship, Coal and Lumber Company that founded the town, the name changed later to New Masset, then just Masset. Today, most people work in either the fishing or lumber industries, though tourism is becoming increasingly important. Masset is a good base from which to explore the northern shores of Graham Island and even Langara Island.

Start out at the Tourism Info Centre, on the main road as you drive into town, 888-352-9292 or 250-626-3982, island.net/~masset/. Open May 1 to September 30, daily, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Get details on the local hiking, beachcombing or clamdigging areas here. Make arrangements for fishing trips here: crab, halibut, and salmon. Take a walk around town to get oriented and see some of the early twentieth century architecture (the church and the old schoolhouse date to 1912, the old hospital to 1914) on your way to the Delkatla Wildlife Sanctuary, at the head of Delkatla Inlet. You can see upwards of 113 species of birds here, including sandhill crane, trumpeter and tundra swans, and Canada, snow, Ross’s and white-fronted geese. It’s just over 2 km to the north of the village of Old Masset; walk or take a five minute drive.

Other Activities

Most of the sights in Masset are just outside of town. Make sure to take the 26-kilometer drive past the airport along the north coast from town out to Tow Hill, in Naikoon Provincial Park. The park covers most of the northeast corner of Graham Island, over 73,000 hectares. The road out to the park takes you past mossy old growth spruce trees through the Tow Hill Ecological Reserve to the Rose Spit Ecological Reserve.

Superbly situated campsites are available at Agate Beach, just west of Tow Hill, a 110-meter cliff of columnar basalt, at the north end of the park. The sites (for vehicles and tents) are at the back of the beach, but have an unbeatable view of the Dixon Entrance and Tow Hill. Sites are $14.00 during the summer and free the rest of the year. A short distance east are picnic grounds and a trailhead to the top of Tow Hill. This 15-minute hike leads to the second highest point in the park and a good spot for photographs. On a clear day, you can see across the Dixon Entrance to Prince of Wales Island and the mainland in southern Alaska.; to the west is Langara Island. Check out the nearby blowhole and the lovely tidepools.

Just beyond the base of Tow Hill is a favorite walk (or bike trip) for locals along golden North Beach to Rose Spit, about 10-13 km along the beach, depending on your route and the tideline. If you’ve got a mountain bike, you can ride half way or so out to the spit and then leave the bikes and walk the rest of the way. Plan a full day for this trip. If you’re on foot, to hike out to the end of the spit and back. Clam digging and beachcombing are popular all along these northern shores. Note that these dunes are a fragile ecosystem and stay on the trails. If you want to do a little clamming, razor clams are the safest to eat, but check with the visitor’s centre for current conditions before eating any other shellfish.

Continue to the tip of Graham Island, to Rose Spit, to Naikoon, or "point town." Jutting 12 km out from the rest of Graham Island, this spot, sacred to the Haida, is the place named by legend where ancestors of the Raven clan were lured out of their hiding spot in a giant clam shell, to take their place in the newly created world. Certainly the landscape here, where the Hecate Strait meets the Dixon Entrance, full of boiling tides and ocean spumes, covered with muskeg, wind-stunted trees, and agate-spotted beaches, has a sense of the otherworldly. Wildlife viewing opportunities abound in the park: watch for whales, orca, dolphins, and seals offshore—there may even be sea blubber, a kind of jellyfish that can have tentacles 10 feet long; on shore, there are black bear, deer, marten, beaver, wild cattle, and even the shy river otter.

Ambitious hikers can travel south, the spectacular 94-km length of Naikoon Park, from Tow Hill to Tlell, along East Beach. Allow four to six days for this hike. While there is some shelter and limited fresh water, carry adequate food and water, as well as a tide table.

Food

Your choices are pretty simple, but also pretty cheap. After a long beach walk, grab a coffee and a bit of local color at Haidabucks, on Main Street, 250-626-5548. Another place to catch up on the local news is Marj’s Café, also on Main Street. 626-9344. Pearl’s, on Main & Collision, 250-626-3223, offers Chinese food as well as seafood, while the Mile Zero Grill, on Collision Ave, is the place to have a burger.

Accommodations

Masset has a selection of B&Bs, as well as a motel and a campground. Check in with visitor info for a complete list as B&Bs can come and go quickly. Alaska View Lodge, 12291 Tow Hill Rd., 250-626-3333 is right on South Beach, halfway between Masset and Tow Hill, and offers pleasant rooms with breakfast, private baths. Doubles from $90. Singing Surf Inn, 1504 Old Beach Rd, 250-626-3318, is the only motel in town and offers large airy rooms just off the main drag near downtown from $90. Harbourview Loding, 1608/1618 Delkatla St., 250 626-5109, offers comfortable rooms with shared baths, a communal kitchen and sauna from $60-90.

For a splurge, try Chinook Lodge, 877-244-6665. For $115-135, you get your own two-bedroom guesthouse, completely furnished with all the comforts of home, including bicycles and canoes. Also swank is Naden Lodge, 1496 Delkatla St., 250-626-3322, offering waterfront rooms with many amenities. Rooms from $129.

Camp at Daisy’s RV Park and Campground, 1440 Tow Hill Rd, 250-626-5280, near the Delkatla Wildlife Sanctuary. Large full service sites run $12-20 depending on services.

Old Masset

Legend has it that the west coast’s first totem pole was carved in Old Masset (sometimes you’ll see this spelled Massett; we’re keeping it simple here). The town took its name as a gift from a European ship, possibly Spanish, that was damaged in a storm. Three villages in the area gave timber and provisions to the ship, allowing it to safely continue its journey. The captain tossed the name out like a party favor.

The present town, which covers the sites of the three older villages, Atewaas, Kayang, and Jaaguhl, is the administrative seat of the Council of the Haida nation, and is a must-see for anyone interested in Haida history.

The village is a focal point for Haida artists, historians, and archeologists. Watch as you walk around the village: some of the new houses in town have been carved in traditional longhouse style. You may also see intricate spruce root weavings and carved totem fences. Be respectful during your visit to the community and artists’ workplaces—this make look like a museum, but it’s home to many people.

Make sure to stop at the privately owned Ed Jones Haida Museum, in the old blue schoolhouse, at the end of the coastal road. You’ll get an idea of the what the area looked like from the lovely historical photographs. Also on exhibit is Haida art, pre- and post-contact artifacts, and original Queen Charlotte totem poles. Generally open in summer on the weekends, from 9 – 5. Also check out Haida Arts and Jewellry, in the longhouse community building. You can see artists working at several local galleries and workshops, including Jim Hart (daily, in summer, from 1-4) and Morris White, 250-626-3985. Check with the Village Office (in the large hall on Eagle Rd.) for details on local artists and attractions. You can also inquire about permits for Duu Guusd Tribal Park.

Over a century ago, villages dotted the coast from Old Masset to the western edges of Graham Island. Duu Guusd Tribal Park, created to protect the abandoned villages in this part of the island, covers much of the northwest coast of Graham Island, from Naden Harbour to Kiusta. There is currently only limited access to the park—check at the village office for information on special visitor’s permits. North of the park is the spectacular and remote Langara Island, a birders and fisherman’s paradise.

Port Clemens

Heading south of Masset, along Masset Inlet, it’s an easy 40-km drive to Port Clemens. About halfway to Port Clemens is the lily-rimmed Pure Lake Provincial Park—a nice place to stop for a picnic, a warm water swim, or a paddle in a canoe.

Port Clemens is a small fishing village with a few amenities—it’s mostly home to area loggers. It lies at the waterway crossroads of Masset Inlet and the Yakoun River, the longest river on Haida Gwaii and a major salmon run. Make sure to check out the pleasant Port Clemens Museum, on Bayview Drive, 205-557-4443, for a window into the community’s WW I origins. Open afternoons in the summer; weekends only the rest of the year.

For accommodations, try the Golden Spruce Motel, 2 Grouse St., 205-557-4325, with rooms from $55-65, some with kitchenettes.

The village is best know for its proximity to the golden spruce, a 300-year-old, 50-meter genetic oddity with golden needles (the chloroform in its needles broke down in the sun). Unfortunately, you can’t see this tree today, as an off-island lunatic cut it down—scientists are trying to grow a new one from cuttings. Other golden spruces have since been spotted in other places in the Charlottes, but none as notable as this.

About 5 km south of Port Clemens, on Juskatla Rd, the Golden Spruce Trail, winding along the Yokoun River, is still worth doing, even though the landmark tree is gone. In summer, watch for salmon swimming up to their spawning grounds. Eight kilometers down Juskatla Road from the Golden Spruce Trail is a trail to an unfinished Haida canoe. Carvers shaped canoes on site—start by burning out the center of the tree, then work endlessly with a series of hand adzes—before finally towing it back to the villages for the detail work. The largest canoes could carry forty people and were up to 23 meters long.

From Port Clemens you have a choice: you can continue south along Highway 16 to Tlell and Skidgate, or head southwest on inland logging roads 64 km to Queen Charlotte City. If you decide to take the inland route, make sure you’ve got a full tank of gas and a useable spare tire. Logging trucks always have the right of way, regardless of circumstance. Juskatla, is the local headquarters of the local logging company, Macmillan Boldel, 19 km outside Port Clemens. You can get local logging maps and road conditions here, or check with any of the information centers. If the roads are clear, this is a scenic route, passing numerous streams and lakes.

Tlell

Continuing south, it’s 21 km to Tlell, a tiny community first homesteaded in 1904, home of the oldest working ranch on Haida Gwaii (1911). The village, a traditional Haida fishing camp, offers access to the southern entrance to Naikoon Provincial Park—get a map at the park headquarters beside the highway, just south of the Tlell River bridge.

Tlell is a growing artist’s community. If you’re planning to be in the area in early July, get info on the Edge of the World Music Festival. Held the second weekend in July, it draws musicians from all over Canada for a long weekend of fun. Stop by Sitka Studio, on Richardson Rd, 250-557-4241 to get a feel for some of the local art. There are several new B&Bs—get info on lodging at Queen Charlotte City Info for who’s in business when you’re there. Camp at Misty Meadows, just north of the park headquarters, for $14 per site during the summer (free camping off season). Northwest of the bridge is a picnic area and the trailhead for a 16-km round trip hike to the wreck of the Pesuta, a log barge blown ashore during a 1928 gale. This could also be used as a starting point to the hike up to the northeast corner of the park (see Masett for details)—the advantage of starting from the south is that you will often have the prevailing southeast wind at your back. The hike is 89 km on the slightly inland Cape Fife route, or 94 km to go round Rose Spit. Winds in this area average 24 km/hour and are stronger during storms. Plan accordingly.

Skidegate

It’s a short 36 km drive south to Skidegate, but it’s a beautiful one. The winding road along Hectate Strait offers prime whale watching area in summer months. Halibut Bight, 26 km north of Skidegate, was a seasonal fishing site—today it’s a rest stop providing a nice spot to pull off and walk the beach, watching for rainbows and whale spouts. Two km north of Skidgate, you’ll see St. Mary’s Spring, marked by a wood carving. Legend says that if you drink from the spring, you’ll return to Haida Gwaii. Just a kilometer outside of town, watch for a sign for Balance Rock. A short trail takes you down to the beach to see the 2 meter wide boulder, left here by an ancient glacier. The boulder, which looks precariously perched, is best viewed at low tide.

Most people only go through Skidegate because it’s closest to where the ferry stops, but it’s more important than that: it was one of the few villages that survived the post-contact smallpox epidemics, so it has a longer continuous history than most spots on the island. Named for the son of the leader who met the first European otter hunters here in 1787, Skidgate today is still a focal point for Southern Haida culture.

The Queen Charlotte Islands Museum, 2^nd Beach Rd, one kilometer from the ferry terminal, is a masterpiece combination of glass and cedar overlooking Hecate Strait and one thing you absolutely cannot miss during a visit to the Charlottes. There is an outstanding collection including: ancient totem poles from abandoned villages, antique and contemporary argillite (a soft black slate found only on Haida Gwaii) carvings, fur and bark clothing, and many personal, household, and farm items. Combined with the excellent historic photos and prints by Haida artists, the museum gives visitors a window into the Charlottes of old. The natural history exhibits include a humpback skull and a good collection of stuffed birds. Admission is $4.00. 250-559-4643.

After you’ve finished at the museum, make sure to stop out back at the wooden viewing platform and scan the horizon for whales. You can spot whales anywhere along the beach in town—the grays are especially easy to spot as they rest and feed along the shallow gravel waters along the inlet.

Next door to the museum are the offices of the Haida Gwaii Watchmen,250-559-8225. The Watchmen program was created in the late 1970s by a group of Haida volunteers to protect the old villages from vandalism, theft and overzealous tourists. Today, Watchmen live in several of the old villages in the summer, to check permits and act as guardians. You can get permits for visiting Gwaii Haanas here.

Just down the road you’ll see a group of buildings, including a carving shed workshop. One longhouse-style building covers the Loo Taas, or "Wave Eater," the first canoe carved since 1909, that was commissioned for Expo ’86 in Vancouver. The canoe was then paddled from Vancouver, carrying a group of passengers, including one of its designers, the acclaimed Bill Reid—the greatest Haida-style artist of the past century—on a three-week journey back to Haida Gwaii.

Even though they’re separate communities, most visitors eat and stay in Queen Charlotte City, 5 km west of the BC Ferries terminal in Skidegate.

Queen Charlotte City

Queen Charlotte City is a business center for Haida Gwaii. The town, the second largest on the islands, was the first registered township in the Charlottes. The headquarters for the Gwaii Haanas National Park are here, 250-559-8818.

Visitor Info Centre, 3220 Wharf St, 250-559-8316; open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, mid-May – early September; call for hours during the rest of the year, or check online at: www.qcinfo.com.

Accommodations

Premier Creek Lodging has comfortable rooms with kitchenettes in the historic Premier Hotel building (dating from 1910), 3101 3^rd Ave, 250-5559-8415, from $55-75. Sea Raven is the only motel in town, at 3301 3^rd Ave, 250-559-4423, just down the street from the Visitor Centre, offering rooms with kitchenettes and private baths from $75-95. Spruce Point Lodge, 250-559-8234, is a hybrid B&B, offering a private rooms, from $70, but with breakfast in your own room (or out on a deck overlooking the water).

Food

Take a walk down 3^rd Avenue and see what suits your mood. Oceana, 3119 3^rd Ave, 250-559-8633 has Chinese cuisine, while Claudette’s, at 3^rd Ave & 2^nd St, 250-559-8861 is more gussied up, and priced accordingly. The Hummingbird Café, in the Sea Raven Motel, 250-559-8583, offers up dinners with local seafood. For great views and local flavor, check out Margaret’s, 3223 Wharf St, 250-559-4204, for breakfast and lunch. Howler’s Pub and Bistro, 250-559-8600, overlooks the harbor, and is a good place to eat, play or drink.

Queen Charlotte City is an excellent place to shop for Haida crafts. If you need some reference material before you get started, stop by Bill Ellis/Northwest Coast Books, 720 Highway 33, 250-559-4681. Joy’s Island Jewelers, 250-559-8890, has a good collection of contemporary artwork. Walk around town and see what catches your eye—Haida Gwaii has one of highest concentrations of artists in North America.

Sandspit

Sandspit, on Moresby Island, is where most travelers coming via plane enter Haida Gwaii. There is a local ferry connecting Graham and Moresby Island several times a day (see Transport for details). Sandspit wasn’t settled until the beginning of the twentieth century, during the Charlottes homesteading period, due to the stormy winter weather. The settlement remained tiny until the end of WW II, when logging business moved here and the Royal Canadian Air Force opened an airstrip here and a seaplane base at Alliford Bay.

Most visitors to Haida Gwaii arrive at Sandspit or Skidegate and then head out. Use this as a base, get your bearings and supplies and then get out to the good stuff. Most of Moresby Island is inaccessible by road; the southern half of the island, along with smaller southern islands are protected. You can drive south about 50 km on the logging roads in north Moresby Island, to the abandoned Moresby Camp, but it’s best to check with the tourist information office before you set out.

The Tourism Centre, with info available online at www.sandspitqci.com, is at the airport, 250-637-5362. Get details on rental vehicles, charters and tours and accommodation here; if you’re arriving in high season, it’s recommended to make reservations for the aforementioned well in advance.

Food

Try a cup of joe at Java on the Spit, at the airport, 637-2455, or a light snack. For something more substantial, stop by the Eagle’s View, 250-637-2217, on Shingle Bay, downtown, or head to the Sandspit Inn. Dick’s Wok Inn, 250-637-2275, is the place to stop for Chinese cuisine and will even bag it for you to take out.

If you’re getting ready to go to Gwaii Haanas, stop by the SuperValu grocery store on Alliford Road, next to the airport, to stock up on all your essentials. The fresh baked goods are a bonus.

Accommodation

There is one motel and several B&Bs. As usual, check with tourist info, in the airport terminal to get the most up-to-date info on the B&Bs.

The Sandspit Inn, 250-637-5334 or 800-666-1107, next to the airport, offers doubles (some with kitchenettes) from $95. Moresby Island Guesthouse, just down the road, at 385 Alliford Bay Rd, 250-637-5300, offers rooms with shared baths from $65.

Gwaii Haanas National Park

Accessible only by plane or boat, this protected area includes rare group of old Haida village sites that are a must-see. This area gives a sense of the ancient world one can rarely experience in our fast paced lives. Legend has it that the site where the great ancestress, Foam Woman, gave birth to all women is hidden somewhere in south Moresby Island. Robert Bringhurst, in his beautiful A Story As Sharp As A Knife, tells a story from this part of Haida Gwaii about a group of hunters trying to capture a harpooned orca with apparently supernatural powers:

    Big killer whales were spyhopping right there in the cove.

    They offered them tobacco.

    When they put another offering

    Of calcined shell with the tobacco,

    A bat scooped up the shell and the tobacco in its jaws.

    Then the biggest killer whales moved out to deeper water.

    Then the gods went back to the sea.

Get a permit from the park operators or the Watchmen’s office before you go if you’re not traveling with a licensed tour operator.

Watchmen preside over five main village site: Skedans (K’una); T’anuu; Gandla K’in (Hot Water Island); Hlk’waah (Windy Bay), and Sgan Gwaii (Ninstints). Sgan Gwaii, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, is one of the most popular villages to visit. Headquarters of the Kunghit Haida, "people to the south," it was an important fur trading site. As people here had heavier contact with the Europeans, it was one of the first to fall to the smallpox plague. There are no traceable descendants of the Kunghits, but they live on through the slowly sinking remains of twenty houses and magnificently carved poles.

This area is a destination for birders as well: more than 370,000 pairs of seabirds including tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets, and ancient and marbled murrelets nest in Gwaii Haanas. Other types of wildlife abound, including orcas, humpback and gray whales; there’s a large sea lion rookery at Cape St. James.

There is a proposal to make a marine conservation reserve to protect the waters surrounding Gwaii Haanas. The reserve would still allow Haida traditional marine harvests as well as limited commercial fishing.