Queen Charlottes

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Our only full day in the Charlottes was Sunday, July 10. We got up relatively early, and took the short walk to the beach before breakfast. It’s a beautiful, long, sand beach, with some pebbles, and utterly deserted. We then breakfasted in the camper, before heading north towards Masset. Along this perhaps 50 km trip, we must have seen at least 100 deer browsing along the roadside. Shortly after setting out on the road, around 10 am, we encountered a pickup truck badly stuck in the right ditch, but heading in our direction. A couple of other vehicles were also stopped but we also pulled over to see if we could be of any assistance. The truck was in pretty bad shape, but there was a young couple on and in it, who were obviously the drivers. They said help was on the way, but they had been there all night - a nice reminder of how life works here and how challenging it would be if you had any kind of car trouble in this part of the world.

I found myself wondering how many mosquito bites they had collected while spending the night in that truck. I certainly have an excellent collection myself - mostly on the parts of my body which haven’t been routinely covered with clothing - my hands, feet, neck, and face. I haven’t actually seen a lot of mosquitoes, but they seem to have found me anyway, as usual. I have noticed quite a few no-see-ums, and have caught quite a few in the act of biting, usually because I could feel it. Roberta has a few bites, but not as many as I do. The itching is sometimes crazy making, even though I’ve been stinking out Roberta with copious applications of After Bite. We haven’t used Off because we haven’t usually noticed the bugs until after they have bit, and it smells so awful. I’d sure like to get my hands on some of that new mosquito repellent I’m reading about, but I haven’t been able to find it yet in Canada. Cutters Advanced, made only in the US, and containing some lemon-something-or-other, and without the heavy smell and oily feel. If I ever find any I’m going to buy a case!

We hoped to go past Masset to Tow Hill, where there is supposed to be a nice view of Alaska. The morning was quite rainy, in sporadic showers. We drove around Masset first, and then through Old Masset, which has a large First Nations population, with many wonderful totem poles in their front yards. We hoped to have coffee at the Haida Rose Caféin Old Masset, but for some reason it wasn’t open - maybe because of the music festival. So we headed back to Masset. There used to be a big naval base here, but it was downsized several years ago, and the town’s population dropped quite a bit. A young woman (about 17) at the local Tourist Information Office told us it had dropped from about 3500 to 1700, but our guidebook said the population is about 1000 today. Still, it has many of the services which probably originally existed to service the larger population, including a large coop grocery store. We dropped in to buy Hagen Daas ice cream snacks before heading towards Tow Hill.

A few kilometers outside town, the road switched to gravel. We were expecting this, but we weren’t expecting it to be in such poor condition - lots of huge potholes. We went about 2 km, all in first gear, and moving from side to side to avoid the worst of the potholes. Some drivers coming out told us it was about another 10 km to get to Tow Hill, and at that point I (Katherine) decided it was too risky to make this trip with such an old vehicle, and we turned around and headed back for Masset, determined to look for a seafood lunch at a local restaurant.

Most places were closed in Port Clements (perhaps because it was Sunday), but we found a pub which was still serving chowder even though it was past 2:00 pm. It was made with a bit of bacon, and was delicious. We then headed back to camp for a siesta before dinner.

Early in the evening a very interesting couple moved into the space right across from ours. They were on bicycles, the first of which was pulling small trailer - something we have seen fairly often camping here. But behind this, the second cyclist had a large sign on her back which read: “Baby in trailer.” Yes, this young couple was cycling the Queen Charlottes with an 8-month-old baby in tow, camping in a tent. They were from Vancouver, we learned later, and had come as far as Smithers in a 1978 VW camper, then headed west by bicycle, and they had been on the road already for two weeks. Their baby was adorable - what an amazing start in life he is getting with such hardy parents.

Our dinner was a simple affair - some Habitant pea soup with cheese and crackers. Then a few games of solitaire before hitting the sheets around 11:00.

While we had too little time to see everything we would have liked to see of this island, we have seen enough to whet out appetites for a return visit, which is what this grand tour was all about in the first place - to discover what we wanted to explore in more depth. The solitude and beauty of Graham Island (the north island) was remarkable, and from everything we’ve read, Moresby, the south island, is even more impressive, though much less settled. We are already starting to plan for a return visit, including some sort of trip to Moresby and Gwaii Haanas National Park, only accessible by sea or air. It has recently won an award for the best national park in North America. Only 300 people people per day are allowed to enter. We have spotted many options for visiting the park in a guidebook we picked up on the ferry, and if anyone is interested in seeing some of them, let us know when we return and we'll fax you stuff from it. It was supposed to be available online, but the link doesn't work, so it has probably been discontinued.

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Photos

Just off the boat
We parked here while we ate a fantastic fish dinner in the restaurant across the street.

Our campsite at Misty Meadows
Surrounded by salal, and just 300 meters from the beach.

The beach at Misty Meadows
at about 10 am

The view in the other direction
Same beach, different direction.

Comments

[knana@shaw. ca]

great reading with pictures
Hi, what a fantastic idea to share your holiday. I used to live in Kitimat and visited Prince Rupert many times. It is great that the two of you are having a holiday to remember. Kathy Perrault