Days 82 - 88: Final week in Sechelt and Vancouver

Unfortunately the smoke from the wildfires persists over Vancouver and the whole area - down the coast as far as Seattle, eastwards as far as Calgary! Hard to escape. We spent a couple of days on the Sunshine Coast but the air was no clearer there.

Ferry ride in the smoke, as compared to...

Ferry ride in the sun (same trip, in June)

Returning to the Sunshine Coast gave us a chance to spend a couple of days more with my Mum, and also a chance to check out the new mandala at Roberts' Creek.

We also checked out the Sechelt Aquatic Centre - and wished we had done so before! Swimming pool, kids' pool (open to all, with river), waterslide, sauna, steam bath and jacuzzi - all for $2!

We returned to Vancouver just in time to meet my friends Stefano and Alessandro from the English-speaking hiking group and show them around town. Unfortunately Vancouver is still not looking its best, so we skipped Grouse Mountain, but we did go to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which I had never been to before! It is expensive and crowded - a total tourist trap - but lots of fun! Convenient and well-organised, too: they pick you up with a shuttle bus downtown and take you back when you are done. Gives visitors who are only in Vancouver for a few days a taste of what it's like outside the big city (if they can imagine the same kind of setting, but without the crowds and the infrastructure).

On our last day in Vancouver the wind changed and the smoke finally began to clear, so my friends visiting from Italy had a chance to see the mountains before they left. We spent the morning at the Museum of Anthropology of the University of British Columbia, followed by a picnic on Jericho Beach.

Poking about in the drawers at the Museum of Anthropology

Days 76-81: Up in smoke

Spent days 76 through 81 of my trip back in Vancouver. Not a great time to be here - the hazy brown smoke cloud that I spotted rolling in from the east when I was landing in Vancouver on the way back from Masset has settled in over the city and stayed here. This is smoke from 126 wildfires currently burning in the province of British Columbia, out of a total of 861 fires this season, making this summer the worst fire season in 60 years. Almost 5000 square kilometres of forest have been burnt up so far - an area almost the size of the region of Liguria!

The nearest wildfire is over 150 km from Vancouver, so the main concern here in the city is air quality, currently worse here than in Beijing. And the fact that the mountains have entirely disappeared from view, making Vancouver look like just another big city... well, we still have the beaches, I guess! Only there's no view of the mountains from them any more!

The smoke was just beginning to roll in over the city centre when we arrived Monday night.

The "view" from Second Beach Wednesday night

Under this apocalyptic sky people continue to go about their daily business. And even their summer fun - people are going paddle-boarding, kayaking and yachting in False Creek and swimming at the city's beaches, as if nothing unusual were going on, and fireworks nights, concerts and festivals have been going on according to schedule.

We spent Wednesday evening at Second Beach to catch Sara's friends from the bands Kutapira and The Boom-Booms in concert before the fireworks. 

Kutapira in concert

During the rest of the week I got together with a few friends I hadn't seen since my last visit, did some last minute shopping, and toured Gastown and the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens with the friends who had hosted me in Seattle and Philadelphia earlier in this trip, who were up in Vancouver for Pride weekend.

In the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens with Bruce, Tom and Amy

On Saturday night Tom and I met up with my Mum and my sister to catch Rodriguez's show at the Orpheum Theatre, a beautiful theatre built in downtown Vancouver in 1927. And then on Sunday, we went down to the West End for the annual Pride Parade.

This guy walked right into my picture, but I think he made it better!

Legalize gay marijuana???

Day 75: Back to Vancouver - by air

Rather than travel back down the coast for three days by ferry and bus we decided to take a shortcut and fly back to Vancouver from Masset. The airport is within walking distance of the town which made it very convenient - only two hours and a quarter to cover all the territory it had taken us three days to cover by land and sea! And it was (finally) a clear day, which made for a very scenic flight.

North Beach, Rose Spit and East Beach on Graham Island, as seen from the plane

Even in these remote locations, logging has made its mark

Coming into Vancouver, over Horseshoe Bay

Days 73 - 74 - 75: Massett

Whether you spell it with one T or two, Masset(t) is on the northern edge of Haida Gwaii. The next land mass is Alaska, and I'm saving that for another trip! 

Our trip to Haida Gwaii ends here. 

The twin towns of Old Massett (Haida) and Masset (mixed Haida and non-Haida) are located only 1 km apart, at the northern end of 100 km long Graham Island, and each have a population of about 800. There are carved poles in both towns, but especially Old Massett, which has seen a true Renaissance of Haida art, now practiced by a new generation of carvers and painters and recognised and valued by collectors all over the world. As we were checking in with the owner of our B&B at the Raven Gallery, where she works, a young man from Vancouver came in and purchased a $500 hat hand-woven and painted with Haida designs in the traditional colours of red, teal and black.

After stopping by a pole carving shed, we settled in, made a late lunch and then took a walk out to Old Massett, where there are galleries and pole carving sheds scattered around town. Nobody was about, however, as it was Saturday evening and they were all at a big potlatch.

Sorry about the light. It was raining

Haida street sign

Skilay memorial pole

By artist Jim Hart

The following morning we hitched a ride out to the start of the Tow Hill trail, a boardwalk trail through the forest up to a viewpoint atop Taaw or Tow Hill, a volcanic plug which formed a basalt column 2 million years ago and was then eroded on one side by glaciation so that it now forms a steep cliff on the seaward side. From the lookouts on the trail there are fantastic views over North Beach on one side and Agate Beach on the other. In between is the Blowhole, where water spouts up through the rock when the tide is high (unfortunately, it wasn't).

Tow Hill seen from below

Where the Blowhole would be if it were blowing

Tow Hill seen from Agate Beach

Why it's called Agate Beach

Walking along the edge of the world

This trip ends here!

Day 73: Spirit Lake hike

Said farewell to our kind airbnb hosts and hitched a ride with a grandmother and small granddaughter to the start of the Spirit Lake trail in Skidegate. Put our bacpacks undr a picnic table where they'd stay dry. No need to worry about them there - we've stayed in three houses on Graham Island, and never once have we been given a key! Nobody locks their doors here!

Spirit Lake trailhead

A red-breasted sapsucker has been at work here

This, on the other hand, is a "culturally modified tree". Many years ago, when they were still living their traditional lifestyle, Haida people harvested strips of cedar bark for making waterproof clothing and watertight food containers. They also dug into the centre of a tree, put burning embers in and looked to see if smoke came out the top of the tree; if it did, the tree was rotten in the centre and would not be cut down to make a canoe. This one evidently failed to pass the test, because it's still here.