Masset and Old Masset

Totem pole in Old Masset

With our two boat trips done, we still had a few days free in Haida Gwaii, and having seen just how small Queen Charlotte is, we decided to hire a car for couple of days to get a little further around the island. We were fortunate to get a car at short notice like this – indeed they originally said they didn’t have one, so I assume we got lucky due to a cancellation. If you are coming here, do book your hire car in advance. We used Gwaii Taxi and Tours, and they were very convenient, as they brought the car to us at our Airbnb and allowed us to drop it at the ferry in Skidegate when we left.

We decided spend our free full day going out to Masset and Old Masset, which were a good few hours drive away. It would have been nice to stop at Tlell on the way, especially if we had been allowed to be eating bad things, as the café there is apparently very good. Thankfully, being a bit short on time helped us to exercise enough willpower to avoid it.

Carving in Masset's main street

We arrived in Masset in time for lunch, and stopped at the Mile Zero Pub and Grill. The restaurant bit looked pretty dull, so we sat in the pub area, which has the same menu. The choices are pretty standard, but they are very friendly there and the quality of food was very good.

Happily fed, we set off to have a wander around Masset. That took about ten minutes. There really isn’t anything here.

So we got back in the car, and continued on to Old Masset. Some of you may recall that in a previous post, I mentioned that when the Haida people had to abandon their villages, this was one of the two places that they settled. As such, Old Masset is still largely inhabited by the Haida people, and so there are a number of totem poles dotted around the village here.

Totem pole on the school in Old Masset

We took a look at them as we drove, and took a few photos, but we didn’t want to loiter too much, as most are in people’s gardens, so it would have felt a bit intrusive. It was nice to see the poles that are newer, more colourful, and still in use, but I am not sure that we really would have felt it was worth the cost and time to drive up here for them alone. We may have felt differently had we not already been to S’Gang Gwaay though.

Gin Kuyaas Haida Art Studio and Gifts, Old Masset

What we did think it was well worth coming here for, were the Haida art studios and galleries. Some of them were a little overly touristy, some were a bit overpriced, and some just had incredibly expensive pieces, but we found two places in particular that we really liked.

The first was the art studio of Haida artist Alice White, which is located in her B&B. We enjoyed a good look around, and found many of the works interesting, but settled on a small eagle and raven pattern that was painted on paper made from red cedar bark. This appealed to us, both as a nice image, and the fact that with the traditional material and the crest of the two Haida clans, it felt like a good representation of our visit.

Canoe store and totem poles in Old Masset

The other was Gin Kuyaas Haida Art Studio and Gifts, which is run by a Haida couple from a traditional Long House, across the way from the family canoe store and totem poles. This is a nice, simple store, which had a number of very nice pieces, that generally seemed better quality and better value than we had seen elsewhere.

We had taken quite a liking to some of the argillite carvings, so had been looking for a piece that we might buy. Argillite is a black stone, and though similar stone can be found elsewhere, this specific composite is only found in Haida Gwaii, and comes from the Slatechuck mine, owned by the Haida, and fiercely protected by them. Only Haida people are permitted to carve it. They used to use it as something to sell to Europeans, often with jokes at their expense, but these days the images have been refined and more in keeping with Haida styles in other materials.

Totem pole in Old Masset

We had earlier rejected a piece in another shop, because though exactly the type of thing we wanted, it was very expensive and in my opinion, not that well made. In the shop here, we found a lovely little box, with a bear image, that we loved, and that was a far more reasonable price. It was only after we bought it that we realised that the carver, Derek White, is a relation of April, the artist whose painting we had bought, with both being direct descendants of a famous Haida Chief and artist called Charles Edenshaw.

We had to wait to pick up the painting, so we drove back to Old Masset and had a drink at the rather nice Ground Gallery and Coffee House, where we nobly resisted cake. After collecting the picture, it was time to drive back to Queen Charlotte.

We decided to make a small detour to drive through tiny Port Clements on the way, which was interesting to see, but as we knew that our Airbnb host was kindly making us dinner that evening, we carried on home.

Old Masset