In the Beginning...

✍️ 🕑 • Series: Towards the Beautiful Islands • Tags: Naikoon Provincial Parkbeachesspitssacred placescreation storiesHaida GwaiiBald Eagle • Places: My Parking Spot on North Beach Rose Spit

I wanted to get up early and visit Rose Spit. I wanted to be there alone. I wanted to feel like I was in the place where the Haida were created.

Destiny was on my side. I had somehow misplaced the pump to my air mattress, and slept somewhat uncomfortably. I woke uncomfortably early, gave myself a charlie horse, and decided it was a sign that it was time for me to get moving.

I would see how far along the shore my four wheel drive station wagon could take me…

Behind the Wheel

Down the ravine, over the stream, and onto the beach I drove, dodging driftwood and keeping well away from the surf.

I knew I was headed out on a falling high tide, so l could assume that whatever path I took would remain open to me later.

Driving on North Beach in My AWD Station Wagon
 
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I had mostly decent traction, driving on pretty hard sand. The obvious hazards are driftwood and piles of medium sized smooth stones.

I was able to get six or so miles along the beach before I couldn’t continue. The piles of stone were too large, too deep, and too numerous. The surf, too close.


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I parked, packed my backpack, grabbed my camera gear, and walked the rest of the way out and back.

6.5 miles to the world’s end, or a 13 mile round trip.


On Foot

Looking back at Tow Hill from early-ish along my walk.
Looking back at Tow Hill from early-ish along my walk. open_in_full 
The morning light was enchanting.
The morning light was enchanting. open_in_full 

And so, I walked along the beach.

It would feel natural to write that I walked alone, but perhaps, it would be better to specify that there were no other humans around me.


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Birds are more active in the mornings, and the evenings, and it felt as though they were almost as numerous as the driftwood that washed upon the stony shore.



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Looking northward, towards the next closest islands...
Looking northward, towards the next closest islands... open_in_full 

And then, after my long walk, I was at Rose Spit.



Rose Spit

After Raven spread light unto the world, he looked down upon North Beach, and Rose Spit, finding it lifeless and boring.

Rose Spit
 
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It was here that Raven found a shell containing tiny, cowardsome creatures, and convinced them to come out into the world. They were small and timid.


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The first men were only men, and Raven felt they were in need of companionship, so he threw chitons, large open mouthed mullosks upon them.


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The first men emerged from the mullosks, and made their way away from Raven, either scattering in the headlands, or returning to their shell.


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The chitons reattached to rocks but grew larger than ever before, and a year later, brown skinned humans, male and female, the Haida emerged.


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(My abbreviated telling of this story is derived from “The Raven and the First Men” by Bill Reid & Robert Bringhurst.)


And Back

My goal of the morning was to be alone at Rose Spit, at the place where Raven created the Haida. I achieved my goal, and after getting splashed a bit, I knew it was time to head back to the car.


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As I walked back, the sun emerged, and after a few miles, I started to see other humans again.


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A very nice couple asked if I wanted my picture taken, and so here it is:


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A killdeer
A killdeer open_in_full 

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And after some more miles of walking, seeing more people, more ATV’s, and more vehicles, I made it back to the car.

The tide was much lower now than when I started out.


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Massett

After my hike, I stopped in Massett/Old Massett, and marvelled at the number of houses with proud crest poles.


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I stopped at a gift shop for souviners.


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I would have stopped for a bite to eat, but unfortunately, the only establishment that was open (the food truck) had just gone on break for an hour, and I knew I would have an easier time just munching some leftovers back at the campground.

Thanks for reading!

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