It’s that time of year again. The denizens of the pickle jar are picking their paddling paradise for their summer foray into the wild. Last year, we went through the sometimes treacherous waters of the Johnstone Strait and into the Broughton Archipelago for sightings of orca, humpbacks, minkes, pacific white-sided dolphin, porpoise, sea lions and seals. And people – lots and lots of people; in fact, lots more people than we’d seen on any paddling excursion to date. So, this year, we’re looking to go a bit farther afield to avoid the crowds. Our destination: Gwaii Haanas, in the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii), also referred to as the Canadian Galapagos.
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Gwaii Haanas lies within the lands of the Haida, who have lived and paddled in this area for 10,000 years. The population, like many (most?) native nations in Canada, dwindled in the 1800s due to disease brought by explorers from Europe. The numbers have rebounded (albeit not to previous levels) and the Haida now comprise half of the inhabitants of Haida Gwaii. The Council of the Haida nation and the Government of Canada co-manage the park designated as Gwaii Haanas. The Haida people welcome visitors to their territory, as long as said visitors respect culturally sensitive sites and minimize impact. The image shown above is park logo, designed by the Haida artist Giitsxaa, and depicts the sea other and sea urchin.
And so Mr Pickle and I are beginning to plan our journey to this mythical land. We plan to drive (20 hours!) to Prince Rupert, take the ferry to Skidegate and go through the Gwaii Haanas orientation in Queen Charlotte City. From there, we’ll hitch a ride on a zodiac to Rose Harbour. We’ll paddle from SGang Gwaay Llnagaay, a Haida village (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) at the south of the archipelago with an extraordinary display of totems, through Burnaby Narrows, whose warm waters support incredible flora and fauna – apparently the highest concentration of marine protein in the world, to Gandll K’in Gwaayaay, known colloquially as Smoke Bay, Volcanic Island and Hotspring Island, where we can soothe our aching muscles after 2+ weeks of intensive paddling. A zodiac will take us back to Queen Charlotte City. On our return, we’ll take the ferry through the Inside Passage, en route to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island.
So, now begins the arduous task of meal planning, collecting supplies and picking possible campsites. Fortunately, I enjoy the planning aspects of paddling trips, which is good, because we have to be completely self-reliant. When we visited Bella Bella/Hakai a few years ago, we spoke with other people for three hours in two weeks. Now, there were some other boaters who we encountered, so we could have always used our VHF. But even so, once you go north of Port Hardy, you really enter the wild.
On that note, I should probably get working on plans!
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On to Top Comments!
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First, from the inbox, topcomments at gmail dot com
From OrangeClouds115:
Awesome comment (re: GMO drought resistant corn); so totally right on!
From dadanation:
Jumping off a comment posted by jwinIL14 in this "diary," socratic steps up to the thread and knocks the softball out of the park. {Ed. note: Ooh, snap! I’ll add that I liked the diary – I thought it was clever}
Pickle’s picks:
In Nightprowlkitty’s What’s for dinner diary, cmnh has the perfect explanation for why people don’t eat bear often: It’s very tough and often grizzly. {Snorfle}
In the same diary, cmnh, who is clearly on a roll, describes how to cook alligator so that it isn’t chewy: Cook it in a croc pot! Raboof says that it goes down better with Gator Aid. {Double snorfle}
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Thanks to the wonderful brillig for compiling Top Mojo!
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