Wednesday, July 5th - Daajing Giids to Tlell

 Our last morning had a little chat with our host, Emily, as I was trying to find out where to put the garbage, then we were off to the Haida Heritage Centre for a guided beach/intertidal walk.

We learned about Moon Snails, their eggs, sea stars, jellyfish, sea cucumbers, geoducks, and more, and how truly, the tides set the feast tables for the Haida. With the first step in, with the water and much covering my feet, I was grateful for the loaner, mis-matched (sizes 8 and 10) rubber boots.

Anemone

More intertidal life!

Sea star!

Marieka holding the Moon Snail

Crab!

Looking back at the Haida Heritage Centre

Another sea star

 

After the walk it was back on the bikes to get Marieka's fancy coffee at Jag's Beanstalk, where we chatted with some other cycle tourers. Marieka was getting hungry, but was up for continuing to Balance Rock before we ate lunch #1. She enjoyed her 2 kimchi egg salads on Carbonaut bread, while I had one on a bagel (with lettuce blocking the hole).

Balance rock and eagle

Balance Rock and Marieka Star Jumping

 

The day was getting hotter, so Marieka went for a swim at Jungle Beach (and I actually waded in a little bit) before we had lunch #2.

Sand on Jungle Beach

Marieka swimming at Jungle Beach

 

We had our next break at the St. Mary's Spring, from which we both drank and continued on.

Biking along the highway

Heading down the rise

St. Mary's Spring

Drinking from the spring

 

Around 5pm we passed the Crow's Nest Country Store, which had been a hope for getting eggs, but it looked closed.

Going past Richardson's Ranch, Marieka needed a break, so we did this at the top of a light rise, looking down at some white banner flags down the road.

As we were coming close to these flags, I saw a sign: "Haida Gwaii Glamping: Gift Shop, BBQ-Ready Fish and Meat". An unexpected opportunity, and an additional break, where we got a pound of frozen local salmon, a promise of a bag of greens, and some fancy oil and vinegar, along wit aluminum foil for cooking.

Excited that we had a real dinner to cook, we rode on, past the Misty Meadows campground, road to Haida House, bridge over the Tlell River, and on the road towards Port Clements, looking for Beitush Road. On and on we rode, across 2 more bridges over the next 2km, so I began to get suspicious. Without cell service, I couldn't check on my phone, but I had a GPS/inReach, so booted it up and, after fiddling a bit, was able to pull up a map and see that Beitush Road was just South of the river Tlell River Bridge (the road to Haida House).

Well, we back-tracked, found the road (clearly marked with a road sign, but I wasn't looking for it when we passed it, thinking that the road was North of the Tlell River) and wound down it to the Rose Cottage. It was gorgeous and tiny, surrounded by roses and rhododendrons.

I threw the salmon into the sink to thaw, we settled in, and prepared to cook it up. Marieka had forgotten to grab the recipe card to guide us, so the internet was figured out and came to the rescue while I improvised a soup from radish sprouts, dried kelp, and peanut butter, while mixing up some chia and keto hot chocolate mix to be dessert.

Going to bed, we learned the problem with having a skylight above a bed at this latitude and time of year: the bedroom was still very bright after 10pm.

Sleep eventually came.