Since last December, I’ve been quite busy, and it’s time for me to share a bit of what I’ve been up to. This post is extra long, because I’m also sharing my reflection on the year 2022, which I probably should have posted at the beginning of the month, but whatever.
We’ve also got four weekly photography challenges, some tunes that I like, and a plethora of links for other things that you can read elsewhere.
After a memorable morning walk, and a visit to Masset and Old Masset, I returned to my campsite. I was looking at the number of days I had ahead of myself, and thought about the possible things I could do.
I had recently realized that the Haida Gwaii Museum was closed on Sunday, and so my goal of visiting it was unlikely to work out. Perhaps this wasn’t the time to visit Dajing Giids after all.
Something in the Agate Beach Campground didn’t speak to me, and something in my soul, in my intuition, or a voice from somewhere just told me that I ought to leave and go elsewhere. I wasn’t sure where the elsewhere was yet, but there were a number of other camping spots on Graham Island or Moresby Island, and I figured it would be better to drive down towards one of them now, then to get up early, pack my stuff, and have to drive in the morning.
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…
I left Port Clements behind me, heading for the Delkata Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Agate Beach Campground in the northern section of Naikoon Provincial Park. There I had a nice little hike ahead of me. And, some rain.
Let’s get into it.
A view of the forest and the surf, from near my campsite.open_in_full
So, when I awoke in Misty Meadows Campground the following morning, I wanted to seize the opportunity to go do something. Do what, exactly?
I knew I wanted to explore Née Kún (Naikoon) Provincial Park. I knew I wanted to stretch my legs and experience some of the islands’ famed natural beauty.
I also knew that the nearest, popular hiking trail led to a shipwreck.
Well, I am going to do exactly that. But before I get started, I thought it would be a nice idea to write a little something about Haida culture and history, and how things came to be in the modern era. Instead of covering these topics directly, I’m going to do so by reviewing three books about different facets of Haida culture and history.
Specifically, I cover:
Raven’s Cry by Christine Harris, Young Adult-oriented fiction covering 175 generations of Haida history.
Potlatch as Pedagogy: Learning Through Ceremony by Sarah Flourence Davidson and Robert Davidson, a book on indigenous pedagogy, filled with memories of cultural reawakening.
Athlii Gwaii: Upholding Haida Law on Lyell Island, a collection of memories and photographs that provide primary source accounts of the successful grassroots effort to stop logging and get the Canadian government to recognize Gwaii Haanas.
I finished each of these books during June of 2022. Each of the three is extraordinary, and well worth reading.
For a while now, I’ve been thinking that my blog posts focusing on my 52 frames entries aren’t all that interesting. I mean, they are a means for me to share some images that I took each week over the previous month, but they are also basically just stuff I’ve already shared elsewhere re-posted with a bit more context.
The other thing that’s true about 52 Frames is this: it’s a creative exercise that does not necessarily represent my best, or most interesting output. So, why not move the stuff I value more to the forefront, and move the (admittedly very fun and often creatively invigorating) homework to the background?
There are other things I do in a month, besides weekly photographic challenges. I’ve been trying more and more to incorporate more of this into these posts, and now I think it’s time to make a habit of doing this in a more organized, repeatable fashion. (It should also be much less time consuming than some of the more detailed travel posts, which seem to take me aeons to produce, what with all the writing, editing, post-processing, and sanity checking that comes along with… this blog literally living inside of a scrappy Github Repo.)
In terms of format, I draw my inspiration from Katrinka Abroad, and for this I make no apologies. I don’t know her, but I really enjoy her approach to writing, photography, and blogging.
So why not try cribbing a format that works for someone else?
