Arctic Adventures

Home Again

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 02:02:00 -0400

To those of you who were incredulous when we started talking about this journey: we did it! We’ve traveled 20,339 miles, including 2,260 miles driven on gravel or dirt roads, 2,120 by train, 410 by ocean-going car ferry, 400 miles by bush plane, 270 miles by raft or Zodiac and 205 miles hiking! We dipped our toes in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, Lake Superior, Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. We saw areas so remote that even most Canadians have never been there.

We’ve seen mountains and wildlife beyond all expectations, talked with the most interesting assortment of people, learned a great deal about First Nations cultures and the history of exploration and resource extraction in the North. We’ve read and listened to a sample of the literature of each region. We’ve stayed in lodges, bed & breakfasts, cabins, motels, tents—only once as many as three nights in the same place. And we’ve eaten a great deal of outstanding food. We’ve walked on sandy beaches, hiked through deep rain forests, climbed to incredible mountain vistas, rafted through canyons, boated between rocky islands, flown over tundra lakes, lain down in alpine meadows.

And Steve and I celebrated our 35 years of marriage with this incredible adventure. Being together all the time, every day for three months, including 17,000 miles in the car, we didn’t run out of things to talk about. We’re stronger, better, closer for it. And I’m grateful for a husband who plans so thoroughly, shares so many interests, stands by me no matter what, and keeps my life so interesting. And we’re both grateful to God for looking after us as we explored His beautiful world.

Now it’s very good to be home, swapping stories with our wonderful daughter Angie and son-in-law Nick who took such good care of our place (and left it better organized than they found it.) Tomorrow Steve will speak at opening convocation to a fresh crop of Augie students and their parents. (He’s clean shaven again. What grows in Canada stays in Canada….)

Thanks for coming along on the journey! Dare to do what you’ve never done before.

One final exploration. After a 700-mile driving day and a night...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 01:25:53 -0400

One final exploration. After a 700-mile driving day and a night in Jasper, Alberta, we visited some of the highlights of the eastern side of Jasper National Park: Maligne Canyon, Maligne Lake and Meitte Hot Springs. The mountains and lakes here are so lovely. Way too many people, though. We intended to get back on the road sooner, but Steve admitted he was procrastinating. Because this truly was the end of our amazing summer sabbatical. And while three months is a really long time to be gone, staying no more than three nights in any one place, and while we were eager to see our family and to get back to our excellent life at Augustana College, we were still a little sad to see this journey come to an end.

Our final hike on Haida Gwaii took us about six miles, out to...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 01:06:02 -0400

Our final hike on Haida Gwaii took us about six miles, out to the shore for a look at an old shipwreck. The Hecate Straight between here and the mainland is well known for fierce storms. We enjoyed one more tasty seafood meal at the Ocean View Restaurant in Queen Charlotte before boarding the 11 PM ferry to head east, the first leg of our journey home. .

Back in Skidegate after our excursion, we visited the Haida...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 01:04:01 -0400

Back in Skidegate after our excursion, we visited the Haida museum and enjoyed tours of recently-carved crest poles and canoes, as well as collections of older artifacts. We really like Haida design.

Notice the tree doing yoga. Here, a tree sprouted on the...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 01:01:32 -0400

Notice the tree doing yoga. Here, a tree sprouted on the decaying corner pole of a longhouse. One root ran down an attached beam, drawing nutrients from the rotting cedar, until it reached the ground. The corner pole is completely gone now, and the beam now hangs from the leg of the tree. What’s this pose called?

The last village site we visited was called Tanu, set on a...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:57:03 -0400

The last village site we visited was called Tanu, set on a beautiful bay. Our Watchman, Helen, came to Haida culture by way of her partner, Shawn. She talked about the way the ancient poles were rotting just as the Haida intended them to: what came from nature should return to nature. She thought that if old poles were brought back here, they should be allowed to deteriorate as their creators intended. The point is not preserving the past, but learning from it and creating new works. The culture isn’t the artifacts but the people, new generations creating anew. And a new generation of artists is indeed creating outstanding carvings, poles, jewelry, masks and canoes, putting their own mark on ancient forms.

Here’s our group, back at Float Camp, after our last dinner...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:51:09 -0400

Here’s our group, back at Float Camp, after our last dinner together. We so enjoyed our conversations.

This is Lindsey, the mother of the two boys. Steve and I had a...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:49:03 -0400

This is Lindsey, the mother of the two boys. Steve and I had a long conversation with her as we soaked in the hot water. We talked about the totem poles and other Haida artifacts that were removed to museums all over the world. She spoke of a grease bowl that an ancestor of hers carved, big enough to sit in. And the pride that came from just knowing that existed. Should these artifacts be returned to Haida Gwaii? Is the community prepared to preserve them? Lindsey believed that better connection to the culture would help combat the drug problem in Skidegate. She wanted Haida young people to be able to travel to these museums, to study and learn.

As we spoke with Haida people, we could see the effort to reclaim their culture after the devastation of disease and intentional cultural genocide. In the larger society of the US and Canada, answering the question “Who am I?” has to do with finding your own individual identity and your own calling. Perhaps we’re free to do that because no one has quashed our national values and culture. For the Haida and other First Nations and Native American people, a sense of personal identity—and hope for the future— begins with recovering their identity as a culture.

Here’s a real highlight: Hot Springs Island. There are three hot...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:47:25 -0400

Here’s a real highlight: Hot Springs Island. There are three hot pools: a woodsy one, a pool at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the bay, and one built right beside the ocean. That cliffside pool looks like a luxurious infinity pool. And feels like one, too. The boys were sons of one of the Haida Watchmen protecting and maintaining the site. And the boys were delightful, having the best summer vacation a 10-year-old could want: hot pools, fishing, boating, and guests to talk with every day. They challenged us to run out of the hot pool and dive into the ocean. And who’d want to chicken out on a challenge from a 10-year-old boy?

This tree would have sprouted maybe 200 years ago on the stump...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:44:00 -0400

This tree would have sprouted maybe 200 years ago on the stump of a fallen tree, and eventually sent its roots around it down to the ground. The first tree has completely rotted away. So the remaining tree stands on legs.

A walk in the forest from Rose Harbor brought us to this...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:41:40 -0400

A walk in the forest from Rose Harbor brought us to this partially made canoe. When a Haida family wanted to make a canoe, they’d start by selecting a large, sound Cedar tree, cut it down and do preliminary digging out where it fell, to make it easier to transport. Then they would drag it on skids to the beach for further shaping, steaming, carving and painting. But when the epidemics hit, sometimes work on canoes stopped. This one was never finished.

This little deer browsing outside Susan’s house is a Sitka...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:40:18 -0400

This little deer browsing outside Susan’s house is a Sitka black-tailed deer. We saw quite a few of them. They’re not very big. And they’re not native to the islands. They were introduced to provide food for the settlers, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Now they’ve proliferated and eaten nearly all of the berries and the young cedar trees. Just like the ones in the Quad Cities have eaten my hostas and daylilies. But they sure are cute.

We spent the night at Rose Harbour, a former whaling station and...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:38:00 -0400

We spent the night at Rose Harbour, a former whaling station and funky private enclave just outside the national park. We stayed in the guest house belonging to a German character named Gutz, shown firing up his wood-powered shower. We ate dinner and breakfast in the blue house belonging to Susan (who did not want her picture taken), who’s lived here for 30 years, grows all the vegetables she serves in her organic garden, and grinds grain as she needs it on a grinder attached to a stationary bicycle.

When we were at SGang Gwaay, one of the watchmen had just caught three halibut weighing a total of 220 pounds. He sent a large quantity with us to Rose Harbor for our dinner, something he apparently had never done before. Susan prepared it in a wok, served with spring rolls, brown rice and fresh vegetables. Delicious!

This is SGang Gwaay, formerly known as Ninstints, a UNESCO World...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:21:01 -0400

This is SGang Gwaay, formerly known as Ninstints, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It has the largest concentration of old standing totem poles anywhere. Our Haida Watchman here was a young man named Doug, an easygoing but earnest guy who said he’d give anything to be able to go back 300 years and see a hundred Haida warriors in one of the great canoes. And he put us at ease with his good humor. (What did the villagers sleep on? Haida beds…)

We learned about crests. Each family had a right to certain crests, perhaps eagle, beaver, killer whale, frog. Using a crest you had no right to could be a provocation for war. Often a family would obtain a new crest through marriage or by “stealing” it from a village on the mainland—perhaps an animal that never lived here, such as a mountain goat. Each family also had the exclusive right to tell certain stories, told in extensive detail by highly trained professionals. Many of the stories had to do with the mythical origins of their particular clan, often told in relation to particular locations on Haida Gwaii. The stories are full of supernatural transformations.

In one photo, Doug is sitting beside the clam line. All the Haida sites had these markers, setting off the trails where we could walk from the protected places where only the Haida Watchmen could go. It was a sign of respect to observe these rules. And it felt like a privilege to be here. This village was almost entirely wiped out in the smallpox epidemic.

We saw two humpback whales surfacing, and once saw a tail as it...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:16:20 -0400

We saw two humpback whales surfacing, and once saw a tail as it dove. That was a thrill—just knowing we’re sharing the ocean with these behemoths. And we saw a rocky island covered in Stellar sea lions, which are so delightfully rude to each other, bellowing and shoving each other to gain the best spot—but they never seem to decide to seek a less crowded place to haul out.

The downside of visiting a rain forest is that it rains a lot....

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:13:00 -0400

The downside of visiting a rain forest is that it rains a lot. It was cloudy and misty most of the time, and we had periodic rain—though remarkably, never when we were seeing the sights on shore. On the boat, charging through the waves, it was pretty cold. So we wore long underwear (like I said, a typical summer vacation with my husband….), fleece, rain slickers, gloves and warm hats. (Bundled up in the first photo: Shelley and Diana.) Then we stripped off layers when we went ashore. Just part of the deal if you’re boating in Gwaii Haanas.

Across the passage at Burnaby Narrows, we watched a beach bear...

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:10:24 -0400

Across the passage at Burnaby Narrows, we watched a beach bear digging for clams. This is a Haida Gwaii subspecies. I’ve never seen such a trim, long-legged bear. Around here it never freezes, so there’s no need to pack on fat and hibernate. And a diet of shellfish apparently keeps the bear trim. I’ll have to remember that.

It amazes me that fish and shellfish thrive abundantly in cold...

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 23:53:11 -0400

It amazes me that fish and shellfish thrive abundantly in cold water, far more than in warm tropical waters. That’s counterintuitive. In Burnaby Narrows, the tides push seawater through a channel just 164 feet wide, providing a constant stream of plankton and nutrients to the hundreds of marine species that flourish here. Shellfish are so highly concentrated here that one study found 74 bat stars per square meter, compared to seven on Vancouver Island. We found an incredible variety of shapes and color.

This is a “culturally altered tree.” Haida built their walls of...

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:31:39 -0400

This is a “culturally altered tree.” Haida built their walls of cedar planks, which they harvested from living trees by cutting out the shape and using wedges, over a period of weeks, to pry the plank free from the tree.

Seals! These are harbor seals, peering at us curiously from the...

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:30:00 -0400

Seals! These are harbor seals, peering at us curiously from the water.