There are few things that\u00a0liven up a hiking day more than stumbling on a shipwreck.\u00a0 At least that’s my life’s experience (based on this\u00a0one wreck)!<\/p>\n

One of my most interesting backcountry backpacking experiences was hiking the East\u00a0Beach Trail in Haida-Gwaii’s Naikoon Provincial Park<\/a>.\u00a0 Haida-Gwaii are a string of over 100 island’s off B.C.’s central\u00a0coast that formerly were called the Queen Charlotte Islands, a day’s ferry ride from Prince Rupert.\u00a0 Naikoon Provincial Park is a large, fairly flat park on the east shore of\u00a0Graham Island.\u00a0 The East Beach Trail was a long flat beach walk,\u00a0almost 90\u00a0kilometers over 5 days (with\u00a0full packs) during which our group encountered only\u00a05 other hikers.\u00a0 \u00a0There were parts of the trail that were very easy to hike but some sections\u00a0were soft (sand), slippery (wet rocks) and with obstacles at high tide, so the going wasn’t always easy.<\/p>\n

The hike was memorable for several reasons, one being\u00a0the\u00a0quiet and solitude of the place.\u00a0\u00a0Another was encountering the remains of a wooden ship, the Pesuta, on the beach.\u00a0 The\u00a0Pesuta was a log barge that in\u00a01929\u00a0ran aground in a storm near the mouth of the Tlell River on East Graham Island.\u00a0 Over 8 decades later, part of the wreck\u00a0is still there and\u00a0visiting it\u00a0makes for a fun diversion.\u00a0 The weathered wood, rusting metal\u00a0and exposed interior don’t take long to explore but you’ll certainly remember the experience.\u00a0\u00a0 I imagine one day a storm will simply wash away what’s left of the Pesuta. (Note; there’s a shorter approach than the one I took, a long day hike from the highway through thick mossy woods and then\u00a0along\u00a0the beach to the wreck).<\/p>\n

Other memorable aspects of the East Beach Trail\u00a0included thousands of bald\u00a0eagles (far more plentiful than even seagulls), about as many ravens, and tens of thousands\u00a0of washed up trees and logs\u00a0on the shore making it seem a tangled cemetery of dead trees.\u00a0 It was a fun experience and I’ll have to write more about it sometime!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \t