Haida Gwaii sits about 100 km off the north coast of British Columbia, across a shallow, notoriously rough stretch of water called Hecate Strait. There are roughly 150 islands in the archipelago, two of them large, and together they hold about 5,000 people, close to half of them Haida, whose ancestors have lived here for at least 12,000 years. The islands are wet, remote and hard to reach, and none of that discourages the people who go. It is, more than anywhere else we have travelled in Canada, a place you visit on its own terms.
We want to be plain about the practicalities before the poetry. A trip to Haida Gwaii, and especially to Gwaii Haanas at its southern end, takes months of planning. Read this as an invitation with a calendar attached.
Getting there
There are two ways in. The provincial ferry from Prince Rupert crosses Hecate Strait to Skidegate, on the southern shore of Graham Island, in about seven to eight hours depending on the sea; it sails several times a week in summer and less often in winter, and vehicle space in July and August sells out well ahead. Prince Rupert itself is about 720 km west of Prince George by road. The alternative is to fly: daily flights connect Vancouver with Sandspit, on Moresby Island, in about two hours, and a smaller service reaches Masset at the north end of Graham Island.
Once there, the road network is short. A single paved highway runs about 100 km from Daajing Giids, the village near the ferry dock formerly known as Queen Charlotte, north through Skidegate and Tlell to Masset. Sandspit is connected to the main island by a short ferry across Skidegate Inlet. Rental cars are few and should be reserved with the flights.
Haida culture and protocols
The Haida Nation is not a historical footnote here; it co-manages the land and the sea, and visitors are asked to conduct themselves as guests. The Haida Gwaii Pledge, a short statement that visitors are invited to read and sign, sets out the basics: take only what you need, leave what you find, respect the villages and burial places, and understand that the islands are a home before they are a destination. It is not a legal document. It is a courtesy, and the people who live here notice whether you have taken it seriously.
The Haida Heritage Centre at Kay Llnagaay, beside the water in Skidegate, is the place to start. Its longhouses, carving shed, canoe hall and galleries hold poles, argillite carvings and, in some cases, objects repatriated from museums abroad. Spend a morning here before you go anywhere else. It changes how you see the old village sites in the south, where what looks like a fallen log is often a house beam and what looks like a mound is a place to be walked around, not over.
Gwaii Haanas and the poles of SGang Gwaay
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve and Haida Heritage Site covers the southern third of the archipelago, some 1,470 square kilometres of land and 3,400 of ocean, from the mountain tops down to the sea floor. There are no roads, no serviced campgrounds and no day-use areas you can drive to. Access is by boat, kayak or floatplane, and only a limited number of visitors are permitted in the area on any given day. Everyone must complete an orientation session before entering, and everyone pays an excursion fee. Independent kayakers and boaters need a reservation; most visitors go with a licensed guide on trips lasting from one day to more than a week.
The old villages are cared for by the Haida Gwaii Watchmen, who live at five sites through the season and receive visitors: K’uuna Llnagaay, T’aanuu Llnagaay, Hlk’yah GawGa at Windy Bay, Gandll K’in Gwaay.yaay with its hot springs, and, at the far southern end, SGang Gwaay Llnagaay. SGang Gwaay, on Anthony Island, is the one people cross oceans for. Its mortuary and memorial poles, carved in the nineteenth century and left standing when the village was abandoned after the smallpox epidemics of the 1860s, have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1981. They are weathering back into the forest by choice; the Haida have decided not to preserve them artificially. Visiting means a long boat journey, a landing in a small cove, and a walk with a Watchman who will tell you what may be photographed and where you may step.
Weather, seasons and the need to plan ahead
The islands are in the path of every Pacific storm. Annual rainfall exceeds 1,300 mm in the settled areas and far more on the exposed west coast, and even July can deliver a week of grey. The season for Gwaii Haanas runs from May to September, with June through August the most settled; that is also when the daily visitor quota fills and when the guided trips, the flights and the ferry sailings sell out. Booking six to nine months ahead is normal. Weather also cancels things without apology: floatplanes do not fly in fog and boats do not sail in a Hecate Strait gale. Build slack into any itinerary and treat a landing at SGang Gwaay as a hope rather than a promise.
The north: Naikoon and the long beaches
Graham Island’s northeastern corner is Naikoon Provincial Park, a low, wild triangle of bog, dune and old-growth spruce fringed by nearly 100 km of beach. Tow Hill, a basalt outcrop 109 m high near Masset, has a boardwalk trail to its summit and a blowhole at its base; from the top on a clear day you can see the islands of Alaska. Agate Beach and North Beach run east from here toward Rose Spit, and it is possible to walk for hours without seeing anyone. The park has two vehicle campgrounds, at Agate Beach and near Tlell.
Wildlife
- Haida Gwaii black bears are the largest subspecies in North America; they forage on the beaches and salmon streams and are common near Naikoon.
- Humpback whales, orcas and Steller sea lions are regularly seen from the Gwaii Haanas boats; grey whales pass Skidegate Inlet in spring.
- Seabird colonies on the outer islands include tufted puffins, ancient murrelets and rhinoceros auklets.
- Introduced Sitka black-tailed deer are everywhere, and the damage they do to the forest understorey is part of what the Watchmen explain.
- There are no snakes on the islands, and no native deer, raccoons or squirrels.
The last thing to say is that Haida Gwaii resists the checklist. The poles, the beaches, the whales and the bears are all there, but the memory we carry is of pace: a slow boat, a quiet forest, a Watchman’s voice, and the sense that we were allowed, briefly, into something that does not belong to us.