Well, the restaurant management is approaching a solution to the cold fried eggs. Today there was a sign on the door saying No New Customers. Our group got settled in at 7, but the other bus load was told to come back at 8. And the couple that showed up in a car were told to just go away. Since this is the only breakfast place within 100 km, they were kind of stuck. He eventually sold them a take away coffee. As we left a carload of 8 showed up and were negotiating. Since I was the only one still sticking to fried eggs, mine were perfect today. We later heard that a few of these extra people were wandering the streets looking for a solution, when a residence door opened and they were invited into the home for breakfast. The Haida Gwaii people are really great.
The day started by picking up the sights we had missed – a balanced rock, a spring and a couple more artists’ studio/craft shops.
We had lunch at a pub, and looked at the local logging machinery museum, and some more craft and art shops.
Then we picked up a guide for the walk to the site of the Golden Spruce. If you don’t know that story you really should look it up, and even better, read the book. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiidk%27yaas
The guide turned out to be a guy who had built most of the company logging roads on the islands, now turned environmentalist and native rights supporter. He talked non-stop. I’m not sure I believe all his stories, and certainly not all his scientific facts, but he was entertaining.
He also volunteered to take five of us in his truck up an even smaller logging road to an uncompleted Haida canoe he had discovered in the forest. So naturally Vic and I were first in line to go. It was a log about 35 feet long and 3 feet wide, shaped roughly in the outline of a boat, with a groove up the middle, and covered in moss. He estimates it to be 160 years old, said to be verified by carbon dating. He suggests the reason for not finishing it could be the smallpox epidemic of that time.
The stump is still there as well as another tree that had starting cuts in it until they discovered that it was rotten inside.
This had to be a couple miles of dense forest from the nearest stream, so even getting it out of there to the ocean would have been a task. He claims his efforts resulted in this area being made off limits to the logging companies. He says he has discovered 20 or so more canoes in the bush, but he is not revealing the sites.
Back in town, the converted pub provided dinner again, halibut this time, and better overall.
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