Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Haida Gwaii
We chose west, driving to Prince Rupert where we stayed in an RV park near the terminal
before taking the ferry to the Queen Charlotte Islands, also known as Haida Gwaii.
When I tried to book tickets for the next-day ferry we were told there was no space, but
show up anyway. So we did and there was lots of space. The same thing happened when we
returned five days later. There was much huffing and puffing about whether we could get on
the boat but when we arrived there was LOTS of room. Lesson in this: don't be discouraged
when they say they cannot give you a reservation because the boat is “fully booked.” Show
up anyway.
The ferry finally left at 11 am, arriving in Skidegate at 5:30 pm. It's not a cheap trip; around
$600 return for a 21-foot van and two passengers.
Haida Gwaii is a collection of hundreds of islands. Most are remote and inaccessible except
by boat or floatplane. In fact, most of this area is within the National Park Preserve and Her-
itage Site, protected through the cooperation of the Government of Canada and the Coun-
cil of the Haida Nation. To visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site, local operators of-
fer everything from open-zodiac camping trips to mother ship kayaking tours to luxurious
lodge-based tours of the park.
About 5,000 people live here, primarily on two of the islands, Graham in the north and
Moresby in the south. Some 90 km /56 mi of paved roads connect the major towns with
access to the most scenic areas by gravel logging roads. We put 536 km /335 mi on our odo-
meter, most of it gravel.
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