Gwaii Haanas National Park Overview

One of the world's premier sea-kayaking and boating destinations, Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site is wild, remote, and haunting. Encompassing the southern portion of the Queen Charlotte Islands, 80 miles west of mainland British Columbia, Gwaii Haanas can be reached only by boat or chartered aircraft. There are no roads, no trails, no stores or fueling facilities. It's a wilderness area comprising 138 islands highlighted by the remnants of ancient native villages—totem poles, burial sites, and all.

The history of the Haida people here goes back at least 10,000 years. Evidence is everywhere, from shell middens (scrap piles left over from kitchens) to the large carved poles at Ninstints, a former village and UNESCO World Heritage site. It's estimated that the Haida population could have been as high as 30,000 before contact with Europeans beginning in the late 1700s brought smallpox, which killed 95 percent of the inhabitants. By 1915, there were only 600 survivors. Today, the Haida population has rebounded to 4,000, living mostly in the villages of Skidegate and Old Massett, north of the park.

Gwaii Haanas is home to the world's largest black bears and the largest breeding colony of Steller sea lions. Bald eagles nest here in huge numbers, as do peregrine falcons. Humpback and minke whales breach offshore. There are lush old-growth forests with giant trees and hundreds of species of mosses and ferns.

Kayaking and boating activities are concentrated on the more protected east side of South Moresby, amid the islands, bays, and inlets. Archeology buffs can head to the moss-covered longhouses in the long-abandoned village of Tanu. Hotspring Island features natural hot tubs perfect for soaking. And Burnaby Narrows, a shallow channel between Moresby and Burnaby islands, is full of marine life. The southern tip is home to colonies of sea lions, seals, and puffins. Early European and Japanese industrial activities are also evident in the abandoned mining sites, whaling stations, trails, tramways, and shipwrecks around the islands.