Haida Gwaii: Journey to the Edge of the World

5000km, 4 ferries, 2 dogs, and 2 weeks of paradise on Haida Gwaii.

No matter how I write it, words really just fall short of describing Haida Gwaii. I'm writing this in our luxury treehouse rental suspended up in the old growth forest overlooking seemingly endless sand dunes and a river leading out to the gigantic sandy beach with the tips of Alaskan mountains just visible over the horizon. We've had nothing but sunshine and blue skies every day up here in Haida Gwaii and we feel so lucky for it.

Haida Gwaii is an archipelago of 150 rocky and rugged islands off the coast of Northern British Columbia with views of Alaska from the northern tip and ancient Haida villages scattered throughout the southern part of the island. We spent two weeks adventuring across the islands and these are some of our favourite moments. We had an absolutely amazing time! The drive up was fantastic, the mountains were huge, the weather was stunning, the beaches were empty, and the fish were biting.

First up is a 15 minute highlight video, followed by a few favourite photos, and then a trip report and photos from each leg of our journey.

If the video below doesn’t play (sometimes there are issues with mobile viewing - although you really should be watching on a full screen instead of your phone regardless!), head to Youtube here to watch the video: https://youtu.be/m2-IyA2XcMk

Day 1: Lake Cowichan to Prince George

We left at 4am sharp on Tuesday morning to begin the 1000km journey from Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island to Prince George in Northern British Columbia. We stopped in for an overnight visit with our best friends on their beautiful homestead in Prince George and enjoyed good food, good friends, and hanging out with the farm animals.

Day 2: Prince George to Terrace

After a great visit with Chantelle & Kyum we left onto the next leg of our journey and started the drive to Terrace. Our ferry from Prince Rupert to Haida Gwaii didn’t leave until the following morning at 10am so we decided to stay the night in an AirBnB outside of Terrace instead of somewhere in Prince Rupert. The AirBnB we stayed at was a 160 acre property which is home to the annual “Valhalla Fest” so there were plenty of places with Norse-themed names to explore with the dogs!

Day 3: Terrace to Prince Rupert to Skidegate

The drive from Terrace to Prince Rupert is absolutely stunning. Hundreds of waterfalls and gigantic mountains around every corner with the road following the ever-growing Skeena River right to the ocean. Our ferry left at 10am and we had absolutely perfect weather for the 8 hour ferry ride from Prince Rupert to Skidegate, Haida Gwaii. The dogs did great being in the car for such a long period! We arrived in Skidegate at 5pm and spent the evening with my mom at her house in Daajing Giids, including some amazing homemade pizzas, and then moved into our accommodations in downtown DG. The house that we stayed in for our time in DG is right on the waterfront on Bay Street (which used to be the main road through town) and it used to serve as the post office back in the day.

Day 4: Jungle Beach (Tlell) and Bonanza Beach (Rennell Sound)

Jungle Beach was the first place on our list so that we could let the dogs run to their heart’s content after being stuck in the car for an 8 hour ferry ride and 18 hours of driving. Needless to say they were pretty happy! We were also pretty stoked to find that there were no people anywhere in sight, giving us what felt like endless kilometers of beach to ourselves.

While we were at Jungle Beach we decided to take a chance and make the long harrowing drive to Rennell Sound, which is the largest sound on the west coast of Haida Gwaii and the only part of the west coast accessible by road. It's been probably 15 years since I've been there and it was beyond anything I could've expected. Pat's mind was absolutely blown by the beach and to be honest, so was mine! We saw a beautiful black bear on the drive in (taan in Haida dialect) who meandered in front of us for a few hundred metres before ambling off into the bushes. The bears on Haida Gwaii are endemic to the island and are found nowhere else, and they are the largest black bear species in the world. Because Haida Gwaii was largely untouched by the last ice age 10,000 years ago there are a number of species that evolved separately and are now found only on the islands of Haida Gwaii. We also saw hundreds of deer during our visit, which are an introduced species (Sitka blacktail) that have only been around for the last 100-ish years and are causing major problems to the local ecosystem - so much so that the hunting bag limit for deer on the island is a whopping 15 deer per person per year compared to the standard 1 or 2 in the rest of the country.

Bonanza Beach is literally the last stop on the way to Japan, so much so that I have fond memories as a kid of exploring after a storm and finding multitudes of Japanese items, including Japanese soft drink bottles, elusive glass ball fishing floats, Nike shoes, and even a motorcycle (not found by me)! We even found a message in a bottle one time as kids. On our way home, we stopped at an old creekbed that I had vague memories of being at as a child (I can't believe I found it!) and saw dozens of beautiful ammonite and clamshell fossils.

The entry to Bonanza Beach:

The view at Bonanza:

While we were there we noticed a dark swath in the water just off the shore, and after watching for a few moments we realized that it was literally hundreds, if not thousands, of salmon! They were literally leaping out of the water, one after another, like nothing either of us had ever seen. Both of us come from ocean and fishing backgrounds yet still, this was unlike anything we’d ever seen before.

Check out the fish jumping out of the water below:

Day 5: Masset, Jungle Beach (Tlell), St Mary’s Spring (Tlell), and Balance Rock (Skidegate)

We picked up our family members from the Masset airport and stopped at Jungle Beach on the way home - not a soul in sight in spite of it being the nicest weather I've ever experienced on Haida Gwaii! We also stopped to drink some spring water from St. Mary’s Spring. Legend has it that if you drink from the spring, you’ll always return to the islands. We also did the tourist thing and took some photos by Balance Rock on our way through Skidegate.

The guys made it their mission to swim on every coast of the island, starting with the beach out front of our rental in Daajing Giids. The water was clear, cold, and salty!

Day 6: Gwaii Haanas (Hot Spring Island and Skedans) with Haida Style Expeditions

It’s funny that despite growing up on Haida Gwaii, I never took the opportunity to take a tour down to Gwaii Haanas (Islands of Beauty), the protected southern half of Haida Gwaii. The following day the four of us left early in the morning to take a boat expedition down to the magical Hot Springs Island way down the coast into Gwaii Haanas. There are a handful of ancient Haida village sites, some with poles still standing, along with an island filled with natural hot springs which ceased running after a huge earthquake around a decade ago and only just returned a few years ago after a subsequent earthquake. We saw too many whales to count! We went to Windy Bay, an ancient Haida village site, and had a cultural tour while there and got to see the Gwaii Haanas Legacy Pole. After that we got back on the landing craft and went the rest of the way down to the hot springs and got to bathe in the most stunning hot springs I've ever seen, up on a ledge overlooking the ocean, surrounded by stunted old growth and hundreds if not thousands of abalone shells that the watchmen who guard the place had collected over the years. Pat and Art both swam in the ocean before getting into the hot springs. On the way back, we had an unexpected bonus stop at another ancient Haida village site called Skedans (usually an entirely different tour) where we got to see a bunch of remains of old totem poles and village house sites. It was absolutely magical. We saw many more whales on the way, along with a blue shark! Our tour guide was Haida Style Expeditions and we can’t recommend them enough! Fresh salmon and halibut for lunch along with a huge spread of salads, meats, and cheeses, a super informative tour guide, and Captain Glen did a top notch job of not only finding whales on the way down, but also navigating the rough conditions on the way home.

Skedans

Day 7: back to Bonanza Beach, Rennell Sound

The next day we took Art and Michelle to Bonanza Beach where Pat and I had already explored previously because it was just too stunning not to take them. It's a long dirt road to get there but it's 100% worth it! To get down to the actual ocean you have to drive down a 25% grade road - one of the steepest legal roads in all of North America. After seeing all of the salmon jumping on our last visit, we knew that we had to come back with our fishing rods. Sure enough, Pat and Art landed 3 beautiful huge salmon within less than an hour of fishing (and probably lost a dozen or so more) so we called it a day and started the long drive back home and then up to the north end of the island to check into our next accommodations.

We then made the drive from Rennell Sound back through to Daajing Giids and then all the way to the northern tip of the island to stay at the absolutely stunning Highwater House in Masset. A luxury treehouse overlooking the Sangan River with the tips of the Alaskan mountains barely visible out on the horizon? Yes please!

Check out the stunning view at Highwater House below:

Day 8: Tow Hill and Agate Beach, Masset

Tow Hill is on my list of must-sees for Haida Gwaii. The short 2.5km hike up the hill rewards you with sweeping views of North Beach, Agate Beach, and the far-off mountains of Alaska. Tow Hill is an ancient volcano and so the beaches are a combination of unique other-worldly rock formations, jewel-like agates, and crisp white sandy beaches. I could literally spend hours looking for agates on Agate Beach, and at high tide the sound of the waves breaking on millions of smooth tumbled stones is unlike anything else in the world. We didn’t get to see the blow hole actually blowing because we were there at high tide and it’s best an hour before or after high tide, but it was still mesmerizing to watch the swells break over the smooth volcanic rocks.

The view at the base of Tow Hill:

The view at the top of Tow Hill:

After visiting Tow Hill and Agate Beach we went back to our treehouse and decided to try to find some crabs out in the surf. We didn’t find any crabs here, but (spoiler alert!) we did end up finding a small feast of crabs at our next accommodations :)

After a full day of hiking and exploring, the guys took to cleaning and filleting the fish that we caught the day before. We had a beautiful meal cooked over the fire and cooked up all of the carcasses as well to be pulled and turned into fish sandwiches. Champagne was in order (thanks mom!) to celebrate our 5th year anniversary of being married on this very beach.

Day 9: Masset to Tlell to Skidegate to Masset

Today we took the drive down the island to Tlell to do some tidal fishing in the beautiful tea-coloured waters of the Tlell River. We stopped in at the Tlell River Fly & Tackle Shop (highly recommend!) and picked up some gear then got our lines in the water!

Sound on to hear the beautiful raven calls in the video below:

The Haida Heritage Center at Kaay Llnagaay

Of course, a trip to the Haida Heritage Center is always in order if you’re visiting Haida Gwaii! I worked as a cultural ambassador and curator at the museum for many years so it holds a place near and dear to my heart. There are no photos allowed inside of the museum so you’ll just have to visit there yourself to get a peek inside :)

After visiting the HHC we returned to our treehouse in Masset to clean and fillet the stunning coho that we caught in the Tlell. This was definitely the winning fish of the trip, not only in size but in quality and taste.

Day 10: Masset to Sandspit

It was hard to leave Highwater House but alas, we had to continue to the next leg of our journey. We drove the 1.5hours back down to Skidegate and took the short 20 minute ferry over to Sandspit on Moresby Island. Our beachfront accommodations did not disappoint! With horses meandering in the fields out in the backyard and the ocean and endless horizon in the front yard, it was the perfect peaceful place to spend the last few days of our trip. We woke up early the next morning at low tide to do some crabbing and ended up with a beautiful bounty of red rock crabs - not as large as the prized dungeness, but delicious nonetheless.

Crabbing in Sandspit at low tide across from our rental house:

We decided to cook our crabs over a beachfire that very night.

Day 11: Sandspit to Daajing Giids to Skidegate

The end of our time on Haida Gwaii has arrived. We packed up our gear and dropped Art and Michelle off at the airport in Sandspit and then Pat and I took the ferry back to Daajing Giids to visit with my mom at her house before heading out to Prince Rupert on the overnight 8 hour ferry back to the mainland.

Day 12: Skidegate (overnight) to Prince Rupert to Prince George

On our way back we again stopped at Chantelle & Kyum’s homestead to split up the 22hr journey home (not including the 8 hour ferry!) and sneak in a bit of R&R before driving the rest of the way home. Juno and Reshi were very happy to get one last visit with their friends!

Day 13: Prince George to Lake Cowichan

We left bright and early the next morning to make the remaining 12hr journey home. We stopped in to visit with my grandparents on the way through and while I wish wholeheartedly that our visit with them was longer, it was incredibly filling to see them.

We finally arrived home at 10pm, exactly 2 weeks after leaving, and let me tell you - my bed has never seemed so comfortable! Thanks for following along with our journey and I truly hope that one day you’ll get to experience all that Haida Gwaii and British Columbia has to offer.

-Jess & Pat (& Reshi & Juno!)