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We drove from Vancouver Island 3,000 kilometers to and from Prince Rupert in the far northwest of British Columbia, crossed Hecate Straight by night in the 'Northern Adventure', camped in amazingly beautiful places on the wild edges of the Pacific, fished for salmon, hunted deer, gathered mushrooms and sea asparagus and lived off these generously sunlit islands under astonishingly blue skies. Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) is the home of the Haida Indian nation. These are some of the images from the trip to Graham and Moresby Islands, and some on the way there and back via the Chilcotin, the old Caribou trail and down the Fraser River to Vancouver. See Haida Gwaii on the map here.

Mosquito Lake, Moresby Island, Haida Gwaii -- named not for the ubiquitous biting insect but for the pivotal Second World War Mosquito fighter-bomber, built from high-quality spruce found hereabouts. Haida Gwaii's magnificent spruce and cedar trees have been heavily exploited in the past.

Camped under spruce trees on the beach at Rennel Sound,                    Graham Island -- reached via unmade forestry roads.	K  Kitty starts a basket with bull kelp
Fishing for cutthroat trout at Rennel sound amid magnificent scenery
Kitty cleans a freshly-caught Coho salmon	Heron and water lilies at Mosquito Lake, Moresby Island
Red Squirrel takes a break from noisily cutting pine-seeds from tree-tops	Trout for supper
Beautiful country for hunting deer on Graham Island	Sitka blacktail deer shot and                                      dressed in the bush
Masset inlet, Graham Island -- vast tidal inlet and home to wildlife
Bear poop -- the seeds show the bears are gorging on abundant wild berries.	Forestry devastation on Moresby Island. Re-planting has started.
Tow Hill rising from the beach at the northern end of Graham Island.	Washed ashore near Tlell on Graham Island -- from Asia?
Traditional adze in use on a new totem pole at Skidegate, Graham Island	Traditional Haida Indian building construction using red cedar on Moresby Island
Camping on the beach at |Rennel Sound, Graham Island
Ancient Haida Indian bone harpoon, recovered from the beach.	Kitty returns the harpoon to the Haida museum at Skidegate
Fine bull elk, west of the Fraser River. For the camera, not the rifle.	Native Indian fishing for salmon with a dip-net in traps on the Bulkley River, Skeena.
The magnificent and deserted Bonanza Beach, Rennel Sound, Graham Island
Fire-ravaged trees in Marble Canyon, near Cache Creek, Caribou	Kitty gathers mushrooms on Graham Island
The Skeena River on the road from Prince Rupert The Skeena
Kitty makes progress on the kelp basket	The finished basket -- now dried and blackened
Kitty updates the diary while overnight bedding airs in the  Rennel Sound sun.	Mosquito Lake through a spider's web
A forest of trees lying down at Williams Lake in the Chilcotin
Well-shaved camper	Gold-rush history drives by -- Hat Creek Ranch, Cache Creek. Cherished reminder of the Caribou Trail to the Yukon.
Sandhill cranes feeding on harvested cereals west of the Fraser River	Valley carved by the mighty Fraser