Sunday in Haida Gwai

Haida Gwai. Sunday

A rainy morning slowed us down a bit, but by 10:00we were out the door and heading to the ferry for Morsby island. Once across the short ferry ride we visited the damp town of Sandspit--a small but well organized and clean village with an airport that actually had three small jets parked on the runway, and 2 helijets. The federal airport was small but full of Haida influences and a bit of modern aviation history as it related to the area and its role in WWII defence of our country. 

As we start driving the northern perimeter of Morsby we notice numerous beautiful sandy beaches. 

As seems to be the norm around here, the misty rain turns to pure sunshine--very strange. Within a half hour we find an oceanfront pullout and end up popping through the green belt to another sandy and sunny beachfront where to our surprise we found a very small beach cabin tucked into the green jungle-forest. We decided this was a great place for lunch. 

Our next spot about an hour later was Gray Bay provincial campsite, on the ocean front. Only 3 or 4 campers were set up here. What a beautiful location. We parked and again walked on the beach. It was incredibly warm. All of us took off our fleeces and laid back in the sun. All the many days I had spent lying on the beach in the summer months at White Rock were not any warmer than we experienced at Gray Bay beach. It was truly remarkable how warm we were in this protected, windless sandy bay. It seems that each day at this place we find an even nicer spot that appears to be all our own at the moment. 

Our goal today was a loop trail on the island's north end, through an evergreen jungle dirt road. Within a half hour we were suddenly in another weather system. Rain and more rain!  What a change. Suddenly also the road quality went "downhill". Muddy potholes everywhere. Bouncing from mud hole to pothole and back, suddenly saw Terry have to suddenly stop as one of out four bikes (attached to the sides of the truck rack) partially broke loose. 10 minutes later and mud everywhere we were again on our way. Another few minutes passed with us swerving from mud hole to bump and suddenly Terry abruptly stopped again. His bike had completely fallen from the truck and lay back on the road side covered in mud--another repair job. 

With all these stops we had missed the second last ferry home. We had no real idea where we were. Another bike partially slipped from its berth--more time waisted. We came across a large inland lake but still had no idea how far we had to go. Time was ticking down and it started to look like we might be stranded on Morsby overnight, since the last ferry was in 40 minutes!  The road actually narrowed even more and we passed  several intersections, each time hoping we would choose the right direction. 

Suddenly another body of water appeared. We debated as to whether it was another lake or the ocean. After a few more minutes it became obvious we had reached an inlet. We were hoping that we might catch the last ferry home. In a crazy twist, the skies cleared up, yet again, and to our surprise and relief we were within minutes of the ferry wharf. 

Attesting to the remoteness of this place, we were the only ferry vehicle on the last trip of the day, under sunny skies and a serene ocean, spotted with several small islands highlighted by the setting sun rays. -- a great as well as suspenseful day!

A final highlight of the day was watching Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup.  

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