We entered through a trap door via stairs un-
derneath the 12-foot-by-12-foot, greying cedar structure. For all we could tell, Neil and Betty might as well have stepped out a few minutes earlier. Seashells were displayed neatly on the left wall, rows of books and Reader’s Digests lined a ring of shelves. A little wood stove sat in the corner across from the kitchen table, a double mattress and a kid’s bed. Faded bottles of bug repellent, sewing kits, fishing hooks and other bric-a-brac sat around waiting to be used. Nothing post-dated 1987, the date the Careys’
lease ran out and Parks Canada took over the land to make it part of Gwaii Haanas National Park. For over two decades, the Careys fished, foraged and explored a forgotten coastline, pio- neers in every sense of the word. A logbook indicated we were only the 14th
Sunnier times, Haida Gwaii
party to visit there in five years. Though we were in one of the world’s great parks, the com- mitting nature of the outer coast deters most kayakers from exploring beyond the sheltered
archipelago on the eastern shore of Moresby. The Careys’ haven is one of the few nooks along the West Coast
where there wasn’t once a Haida village. This is most likely be- cause the whole lagoon dries out at low tide, making for poor wa- ter access for natives going on expeditions in 100-foot-long cedar canoes. At the height of their civilization, the Haida numbered 20,000 but dwindled to as low as 600 by the mid-20th century, victims of a smallpox epidemic introduced by European traders. Weathered totems and remnant longhouses remain as the only
“It began as a sport, now it’s our lifestyle!”
1 - 8 6 6 - 8 8 2 - 2 6 6 3 w w w. a q u a f u s i o n . c o m Trip Stats
START
DATE......................May 7, 2005 DAYS ON TRIP ................................ 46 DAYS PADDLED ............................... 34 DAYS STORMED IN ........................... 7 DISTANCE PADDLED ................. 930 km LONGEST DAY ........................... 46 km
MAXIMUM DAYS’ FOOD CARRIED .............................. 28
UNPLANNED SWIMS ........................ 1
KAYAKS .............2 Nigel Foster Shadows 1 Nigel Foster Legend
JAPANESE GLASS FISHING FLOATS FOUND ................................ 2
The Team (left to right)
KEITH KLAPSTEIN: Keith spent the better part of a de- cade travelling the globe competing on the world cup circuit representing Canada in whitewater kayak slalom. He has a bachelor of fine arts degree in photography and currently operates Riverworks, his own kayak instruction and guiding school.
FRANK WOLF: With a day job spent sweating under the fluorescent lights of Mountain Equip- ment Co-op, Frank lives for long vacations. They include an 8,000-kilometre canoe trip across Canada in 1995 and a 2,000-kilometre win- ter backcountry cycling expedition across the Yukon and Alaska in 2003.
TODD MACFIE: A former mem- ber of the Alberta Junior Team for kayak slalom, Todd has spent the past 15 years pad- dling whitewater kayaks, sea kayaks and canoes. An accomplished photog- rapher and writer, his most recent expedition was an 800-kilometre traverse of Scandinavia by canoe in 2004.
40 || Adventure Kayak spring 2006
KEITH KLAPSTEIN
haidagwaii ~
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