Friday, February 2, 2007

Reflections of Hadia Gwaii #1

I have arrived at the forestry office in Queen Charlotte Village (it is actually called "village", not "city") The downtown is a total of about 6 stores, all of which close before 6. The weather is awesome. Very pretty. The flight this morning was wonderful. I was the smallest so had to sit in the back of the plane (little 7 seater Beaver).

But that was ok since I got to see out the window and was defiantly more comfortable than the 3 full grown men who were crammed all 3 to the bench in front of me. Once we took off over Prince Rupert harbour, Metlakatla, the small native community across from Rupert, quickly came and went from our view. The outlying islands of the west coast of Digby, the commercial airport island) were scattered and bore smooth yet rugged rocks as a coastline testimony of the geological history and the extreme seas of this area.

We were just approaching Haida Gwaii (Native name for QCI) when the sun rose over Hecate straight. It was soooo beautiful; it sparkled off the water and filled the plane with that early morning sunlight glow. Then I caught my first glimpse of QCI. The waves breaking on the sandy looking beach line. The wind swept trees lining the edge of the beach and the swamps and peat moss in the interior. As the rounded the northern tip of the island and began to approach Masset you could see small and some large houses nestled under the tall coastal trees; the old Masset, the original native settlement.

Lawrence picked me up in my truck for the week A extended cab Ford Ranger. And after grabbing a coffee at the local diner we started the drive down to Queen Charlotte Village. The landscape is very beautiful. Thick coastal forest was cutback from the road leaving a seemingly impermeable wall of green, much like the jungles of Guatemala. Under the wires running the length of the road were small hemlock and cedar, salal clumps and bare deciduous trees that had grown persistently since the last trimming of the ever encroaching forest. Once we had crossed over to the east coast of the island the forest occasionally broke on our left side and afforded us glimpses of the ocean as the sun rose higher above the low hanging clouds on the horizon. The occasional farmers field cleared out of this temperate rainforest was complete with resting cows chewing their cud, bedded down on the thick undergrowth of decaying grass.

When we arrived in the village of Queen Charlotte, Lawrence took me on the extended tour of downtown, that lasted a full 5 minutes. It consisted of a few scattered diners, most of which, he informed me, had very unpredictable hours; some of which seemed to have just closed their doors all together with no warning of any sort. Then there was the Health food store/used book store (important to know for me), and the liquor store. He also informed me the fresh produce had come to the island today and that it was going to be a mad rush after work to head down to the local Co-op for any fresh produce that you wanted for the week.

After quick introductions as the office we went to the Sea Raven for lunch a quant diner with good food and unpredictable service. Most of the patrons seemed to know each other and exchanged the occasional pleasantries. And now I'm preparing for tomorrow. We are going out on a waste check at Sewell Inlet.