Native artist Bill Reid once called Haida Gwaii, home to the Haida people, the "Shining Islands." This revised edition in Raincoast's popular Journeys series shows why. Known also as "Canada s Galapagos," these islands are a natural marvel, featuring awesome vistas and a rich ecosystem. The islands also offer more than 400 cultural sites, including the UNESCO World Heritage village of Ninstints. Ian Gill's lively text and David Nunuk's dramatic photographs celebrate this unique, still relatively unspoiled place."

Haida Gwaii, ancestral home of the Haida Nation, was once as inaccessible and mysterious as it was beautiful. The tight cluster of islands off British Columbia's northwest coast remained virtually untouchable for millennia, allowing its people to develop a distinct and exceptional cultural identity that was revered across the region. Today, Haida Gwaii--a name that means "islands of the people" in the Haida language--has piqued the interest of world travellers. Applying his in-depth knowledge of the islands' geography, social history, and natural and cultural attractions, Dennis Horwood equips travellers with everything they need to know about visiting these gems of the Pacific.

The Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia constructed some of the most magnificent houses and erected some of the most beautifully carved totem poles on the Northwest Coast. During the last quarter of the nineteenth-century, images of the Haida's immense cedar houses and soaring totem poles were captured, first on glass plates and later on film, by photographers who travelled to then-remote villages such as Masset and Skidegate to marvel at, and record, what they saw there. Haida Monumental Art, initially published as a limited edition hardcover and finally available in paperback, includes a large number of these remarkable photographs, selected from a collection of over 10,000 original prints and photographic plates. They depict the Haida villages at the height of their glory and record their tragic deterioration only a few decades later. As well, this edition contains the complete text from the first edition, including site plans and detailed descriptions of fifteen major villages and several smaller sites, which are catalogued by house and pole. By combining archeology and ethnohistory, George MacDonald presents an integrated framework for understanding the physical structure of a Haida village. He explains how the houses and poles are part of a fascinating web of myth, family history and Haida cosmology, which provides a unique insight into Haida culture.

Revised Edition Available, Spring 2010 The Pacific Coast has long attracted adventurers, explorers and environmentalists. From the early beginnings of coastal voyaging, which began with Native paddlers in large canoes and foreign explorers under sail, to modern travellers in kayaks, skiffs and private yachts, exploration has always been an integral part of life on the coast. Boat Camping Haida Gwaii, written by a modern-day explorer with environmental interests, is a practical guide for coastal explorers interested in a weekend off-shore adventure or a major expedition to remote and wild areas. With information on ancient native settlements, hidden campsites and everything in between, Boat Camping Haida Gwai offers a fascinating - and comprehensive - look at the wild beauty of the Queen Charlotte coast. Boat Camping Haida Gwaii is the definitive guidebook for people interested in camping by boat. The book features a wide range of detailed maps of the Queen Charlotte coast, along with numerous photographs, offering a clear sense of the geography - and the majesty - of the area. Detailed descriptions are given of each campsite and special appendices are provided with helpful hints on bear safety, tides and currents. The book also contains information about the history and culture of the Haida, the indigenous people of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Intended to serve primarily as an on-board reference, the book can be opened flat, and used in conjunction with the Global Positioning System (GPS) and chart references. Its compact size ensures the book can easily fit in kayak cockpit storage sleeves, or tossed in a backpack for day trips. It fits perfectly in zip-lock storage bags for waterproof protection. This guide's comprehensive information will be valuable to kayakers, canoeists, those in small motorboats and everyone interested in exploring this unique area. Yachters and sailors willing to go adventuring in their skiffs will also find this guide helpful in exploring Haida Gwaii -- as will armchair adventurers.

The most isolated archipelago on the west coast of the Americas, inhabited for at least 10,500 years, Haida Gwaii has fascinated scientists, social scientists, historians, and inquisitive travellers for decades. This book brings together the results of extensive and varied field research by both federal agencies and independent researchers, and carefully integrates them with earlier archaeological, ethnohistorical, and paleoenvironmental work in the region. It imparts significant new information about the natural history of Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the adjacent areas of Hecate Strait. Chapters analyze new data on ice retreat, shoreline and sea level change, faunal communities, and culture history, providing a more comprehensive picture of the history of the islands from the late glacial through the prehistoric period, to the time of European contact, known to the Haida as the "time of the Iron People."

For more than thirty years James Houston has been flying to Vancouver, then taking a little plane north and west to the airport at Sandspit on the Queen Charlotte Islands. After the ferry ride to Skidegate, he takes the single road running north on Graham Island and settles down in his small cottage by the bridge over the Tlell River. There he fishes, writes, draws, roams around, and rejoices that he and his wife, Alice, have found the perfect place. People go misty-eyed when they recall the Queen Charlottes, those distant islands in the Pacific within sight of Alaska that are miraculously temperate and see little snow. The glaciers of the Ice Age passed the islands by, leaving a treasure trove for botanists and biologists. Today, the warming Japan current still protects its shores. Among its many delights are spectacular wildlife of all kinds. On land are many deer, river otters, and the largest black bears in the world. Its waters shelter giant crabs, salmon, and killer whales. And the air is filled with remarkable birds, especially the ravens and bald eagles that are everywhere. Special landscapes include moss-hung rainforests that remind us that this is Emily Carr country, sheer cliffs that plunge straight into the Pacific, miles of empty beaches piled with sculptured driftwood, Guinness-black forest pools and thundering seascapes, and even a secret Haida mountain that provides the rare carving stone known as argillite. These are the islands of Haida Gwaii, of course, and James Houston has always had an affinity for native people, whether with Ojibway friends in his Ontario boyhood or with Inuit in the North. His book tells the history of the Haida, the coming of theEagle and the Raven clans, and the rich culture they developed in this land of plenty. Then came the bloody sea otter fur trade with sometimes ruthless sea captains two centuries ago and later the smallpox that wiped out 80 per cent of the Haida population, with social effects that have lasted to this day. Houston also tells us about totem poles and potlatches, two traditions that he has seen being revived. And while many old Haida legends adorn his book, there are also fine modern characters, including the old Haida visitor who sang a song to her river "chez Houston, and the Houstons' friend Teddy Bellis, who liked to offer their big-city guests a snack of "smoked dog." From a visit to the awesome power of the crumbling poles at the deserted village of Ninstints in the south all the way to the site of a crab fishing tragedy on North Beach, the book covers the range of the archipelago. But James Houston is a fanatical fly fisherman and his love of fishing on his doorstep - and dramatic tales of salmon or trout caught or lost by him, or Alice, or their friends - runs through the book. So, too, does their beloved Tlell River, which ebbs and flows with the tide a mere twenty feet from his window. As he and Alice arrive and open up the old green cottage, their excitement will affect everyone whose family has ever had a special summer place, a hideaway. Reading this book is almost as good as being there.