o o o TURKS & CAICOS, E2 NEW MEXICO, E6 OREGON, E8 IKE-BATTERED NATION’S FIRST REMOTE, RUGGED ISLANDS BEGIN WILDERNESS A CAPE PERPETUA SLOW RECOVERY TIME CAPSULE BEST IN AUTUMN ABCD | 9.21.2008 | Section E TRAvEL NATURALLY BEAUTIFUL Queen Charlotte Islands offer native culture and history, too By Margo Pfeiff Special to The Chronicle Ninstints, British Columbia oss, moss everywhere. Meandering lushly up tree trunks, it envelops woodpiles, grows moss- MAfros atop fence posts and encroaches on the cedar plank pathway I’m hiking through a rain forest of Sitka spruces so big they could be simultaneously hugged by a dozen people. Then, just ahead, a pair of huge eyes stares at me and my heart does a little jig. An unmistakable eagle’s face, craggy and weathered, peers out from a bleached silver totem pole eerily naked in a green clearing. And then I see the others, the only cluster of ancient totems still standing. And like my first encounter with giraffes in the African bush and seeing the hilltop enclave of Machu Picchu, these poles pack a spiritual punch in real life that I never get from even the best documentary footage. Seventy miles off the north coast of British Columbia, the Queen Charlotte Islands — a.k.a. “the Charlottes” or, 1 QUEEN CHARLOTTE: Page E4 Attention-getting sights include, from left, a sign in Tlell, the eagle atop Bill Reid’s totem in Skidegate and a Haida man’s tattoo in Old Masset. Photos by Margo Pfeiff / Special to The Chronicle Visitors observe totem poles, one of the major attractions of Ninstints Island. Also known as Sgan Gwaii, Ninstints is a tiny island at the far southern tip of the archipelago in British Columbia. COMING SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE SANTANA REBA & KELLY CLARKSON JEFF DUNHAM NEIL YOUNG TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA October4 October10 October11 October12 November1 November 14 All performances are in the Downtown Reno Events Center. An MGM MIRAGE Property E4 ABCD COVER STORY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2008 If you go GETTING THERE Air Canada’s Tango subsidiary has two-hour flights from Vancou- ver to Sandspit in the Queen Charlottes. www.aircanada.com. Fares run around $360 CND (US $339) round-trip. BC Ferries operates a 6½-hour ferry from the town of Prince Rupert, on the mainland, to Skidegate in the islands. (888) 223- 3779, www.bcferries.com. One-way fare for a vehicle with two passengers is about $160 CND (US $151). WHERE TO STAY AALASKALASKA Dorothy & Mike’s Guest House, Queen Charlotte PPrincerince RRupertupert City, (250) 559-8439, www.qcislands.net/doro- CANADA mike. Serene, comfortable BRITISH lodgings overlooking Skide- COLUMBIA gate Inlet. Doubles from $58 CND (US $55) with break- Queen fast. Charlotte Premier Creek Lodge, Islands Queen Charlotte City, (250) VVancouverancouver PacificPacific VVancouverancouver 559-8415 or (888) 322- Ocean IIslandsland 0 200 3388, www.qcislands.net/ VVictoriaictoria premier. Funky renovated MILES WASH. historic town lodge. Doubles The Chronicle Photos by Margo Pfeiff / Special to The Chronicle from $35 CND (US $33). Baby sea Tlell River House, Tlell, (250) 557-421, www.tlellriverhouse- lions are part .com. Elegant field stone and wood lodge and spa on the Tlell The Charlottes of the region’s River. Doubles, $175 CND (US $165) per night with breakfast. vibrant sea Popular for river fishing. life, above. WHERE TO EAT Totem poles show off their on Ninstints Queen B’s Cafe, Queen Charlotte City, (250) 559-4463. Funky Island are one cafe/gallery, homemade food. Open daily. Lunch, $25 CND (US of the major $23.50) per person; dinner (Thursday and Friday only), $40 attractions, CND (US $37.75) per person. history, beauty left. Purple Onion Deli, Queen Charlotte City, (250) 559-4119. Great breakfasts and deli sandwiches from $15 CND (US $14) for two. 1 the West Coast Fishing Club, by QUEEN CHARLOTTE Keenawii’s Kitchen, Skidegate, (250) 559-8347. Haida culinary From Page E1 helicopter, scattering tame deer expert Roberta Olson “Keenawii” comes from a long line of tradi- off the landing pad. The lodge is tional food gatherers. She and her two teenage kids cooked up increasingly, “Haida Gwaii” in the an elegant, manly place that en- our best meal on the islands, a traditional Haida-style feast in- native Haida tongue — are just 20 courages catch and release by of- cluding octopus, seaweed, silky smoked black cod, cod souffle miles shy of the Alaska Panhandle. fering world-class Haida art in ex- and much more. By appointment. $50 CND (US $47) per per- To get there, you can fly from change for letting your 40-pound- son. Vancouver or take a ferry across er go. But I didn’t have to make Trout House Restaurant and Bakery, Tow Hill, (250) 626-9330. Hecate Strait from Prince Rupert that decision because, as usual, Great food including halibut burgers, candied salmon focaccia on the B.C. mainland. The cruise nothing nibbled. We blamed a and seafood chowder of the Gods. Local musicians on week- on B.C. Ferries is likely the best pair of killer whales patrolling in ends. Call to check seasonal hours. Open for dinner Friday and approach, with 6½ hours at sea to the distance and switched to deep- Saturday. From $25 CND (US $23.50) for two. mellow down to the local’s pace. er water halibut gear. I found my- across a huge, partially completed We spotted humpback whales Hidden Island RV & Resort Fish n Chips, Masset, (250) 626- My sister and I came for self childishly overjoyed to snag a canoe in the forest, and called in from Hawaii gorging themselves 5286. Eight tables in a tackle shop/diner in an RV park, where glimpses of long-abandoned Hai- modestly sized specimen, an expe- anthropologists. Sleek though en route to Alaska; pilot whales; you dine on terrific fresh halibut and chips amid day-glo lures and da village sites with their toppling rience akin to hauling a fridge mossy, it is one of more than 30 bears and teenage Stellar sea lions fish bonkers. Lunch for two, $20 CND (US $19). totems. They’re now protected door from the ocean depths. found in the islands. goofing off in the water while within Gwaii Haanas National Masset is a no-frills fishing “The trees were selected, felled their parents’ syncopated grunts WHAT TO DO Park, a wilderness covering most town of loggers and fishermen, and partially hollowed out before filled the air from a nearby rock. of the southern tip of this blade- hippies and Haida, like the rest of being moved on log rollers to the The sea life was lush, too, a Tech- Haida Gwaii Discovery, www.northwestrecreation.com, (250) 626-3949 or (866) 626-3949. Day tours, $80 CND (US shaped archipelago. the island. It sits alongside Nai- water,” Merilees said. nicolor underwater forest of $75.50). Longer custom tours also available. We wanted to walk wild beach- koon Provincial Park, a vast ex- They were then filled with hot anemones and sea stars brighten- es and hike in some of the conti- panse of beach and forest occupy- stones and water to steam them ing the shallows of Burnaby Nar- Moresby Explorers, Sandspit, BC, (250) 637-2215 or (800) nent’s most verdant rain forest, ing the northeast corner of Gra- open. Canoes as long as 60 feet rows. 806-7633, www.mores- which is drenched in 51 annual ham Island. We quickly became were the Haida’s most valuable During the 21 hours of daylight byexplorers.com. Four- inches of rain. Also on the agenda accustomed to the on-and-off trading tool, and they have been in summer, we soaked in natural day Gwaii Haanas Nation- al Park boat trip, $1,290 was taking in the resurgence of light rain showers that are the found as far afield as Northern pools on Hotspring Island and vis- CND (US $1,216) per Haida culture, a bit of fishing and Charlottes’ trademark weather California. ited the old village of T’anuu person. Advance reserva- some whale-watching. pattern as we beachcombed for Along with standing cedars where huge, fallen roof beams tions essential. And we had our fingers crossed agates, chatted with crab seekers from which strips of bark were and poles are distinct mossy bulg- for a sighting of the elusive migra- and poked around a shipwreck. harvested years ago to weave bas- es on the forest floor, spanning the Haida Heritage Centre, tory tufted puffin because neither Great coffee is generally a rar- kets and hats, the canoes are offi- sunken interiors of once-spacious Skidegate, www.haida- heritagecentre.com. of us had ever seen a puffin in the ity in remote places, but we found cially dubbed CMTs — Culturally longhouses where extended fami- Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. flesh. it everywhere here, even at Moon Modified Trees — and the Haida lies lived. Closed Sundays. Adults, The Queen Charlottes are Over Naikoon, an offbeat, off-the- are presently using GPS to map We spent two nights at Mores- $12 CND (US $11.30). composed of two main islands — electrical-grid cafe/informal their sites as evidence to back their by Explorers’ cozy wooden float Graham and, to the south, Mores- whale museum in the middle of native land claims. house, complete with a propane FOR MORE by — and 1,500 surrounding islets. Naikoon’s rain forest, where we At the southern end of Graham fireplace and a cook whipping up INFORMATION Operations Manager Jason Only about 120 miles of paved met guide Andrew Merilees over a Island, 70 miles from Masset, Ski- fabulous meals.