Haida Gwaii: Salt & Spruce

Haida Gwaii is an archipelago of temperate rainforest and wild coastline about 100 kilometres off the north coast of British Columbia, and bikepacking it is as much a cultural journey as a physical one. Getting there is part of the adventure: an eight-hour overnight ferry from Prince Rupert, a longer one from Port Hardy, or a flight into Sandspit. The route links the Haida heartland at Skidegate with the far north at Tow Hill and Masset, the forests around Port Clements, and the remote roads of Moresby Island.

Sarah Fix rode it solo over eight days, north up Graham Island and across to Moresby by inter-island ferry. Read her full story here.

The riding itself is not especially technical: long stretches of the paved Yellowhead Highway give way to gravel forest service roads and the odd sandy or rooty trail that is often better walked than ridden. What makes it hard is the remoteness. Cell service is spotty to nonexistent, distances between services are long, and the weather rolls in fast and wet off the Pacific.

The highlights come thick and fast. The Pesuta shipwreck sits at the end of a sandy hike-a-bike near Tlell. Tow Hill rises in black basalt above agate beaches and tide pools at the island's north end. Near Port Clements the Golden Spruce trail and the abandoned cedar canoes hold the island's hardest history. And the lonely south, around Gray Bay on Moresby, feels like the edge of the world. Plan for side trips on foot, because some of the best places are off the bike.

Come prepared and come respectful. Carry food and water for long empty stretches, expect bears around the salmon rivers in late summer, weight your tent against ferocious coastal wind, and do not trust your phone's map. Ride in summer for the best weather and the salal and huckleberry season. Above all, Haida Gwaii is Haida land: read the Haida Gwaii Pledge before you go, take only what you need, and travel with humility.