Off-Track Travel in BC

Take a Ferry from Vancouver to Another Century

By Korey Capozza

Bella Coola, on British Columbia's remote central coast, was a tranquil Indian fishing village until settlers transformed the region into a logging and agricultural center in the 19th century. Today, logging and fishing are drying up and Bella Coola offers the off-the-beaten-track traveler stunning scenery, a unique cultural history, small-town hospitality, and bargain prices.

The ferry ride to Bella Coola from Vancouver is half the fun. It lasts two days and includes stops at small Indian villages where excursions are organized for reasonable fees. At the first stop, the island of Bella Bella, local Hil'sik Band Indians offer a tour which includes a cultural sharing ceremony in a long house, the traditional cedar-planked community hall of Pacific Northwest coastal tribes. Energetic visitors can board a canoe with a Hil'sik guide and explore the inlets around Bella Bella. The tour meets up with the ferry in its next port of call, McLoughlin Bay.

The afternoon is spent in the town of Klemtu, where passengers can take an interpretative walking tour of the fishing village. The walk ends with a feast of seafood and native delicacies in the Klemtu town hall. Passengers less inclined to explore can rest onboard the ferry where comfortable chairs, movies, a restaurant, and a bar offer relaxation. The ferry trip takes one day and two nights and costs $110 Canadian. Excursions range in price from $20-$40 Canadian.

When passengers arrive in Bella Coola early in the morning, they wake up to a dramatic landscape of fjords and mist. The boat approaches the harbor through an inlet bordered by towering mountains rising sheer from the ocean. Norwegians settled the region in the late 1800s after an explorer visited Bella Coola and raved about its remarkable setting and its striking resemblance to Norway.

Bella Coola is home to the Nuxalk Nation, a tribe that in recent years has made international headlines with its struggle against clearcut logging on its ancestral lands. Bella Coola sits on the edge of the Great Bear Rainforest. Well-marked hiking trails invite short excursions or multiple day hikes through one of the earth's largest remaining tracts of temperate rainforest. The area is also home to the elusive, pure white spirit bear, a rare albino variety of the American black bear, considered sacred by the Nuxalk.

Probably the most impressive attraction in Bella Coola is the collection of petroglyphs located near downtown. Camping is inexpensive and readily available. The Bella Coola Inn Campground sits just a few feet from the roaring Bella Coola river. At Hagar's Haven in Hagensborg (six miles from Bella Coola) the eccentric owner will fill you in on the local Bella Coola lore. She also provides free laundry service and a hot tub. (Hagar's Haven, Hagensborg, BC; 250-799-5659.)

At the turn of the century, Bella Coola was a thriving fishing and cannery town. When the fish stocks began to wane, the canneries were abandoned. One of these, the Talheo Cannery, whose painted red buildings can be seen across the inlet from Bella Coola, has been restored to its former glory and is operated as an inn. Guests are whisked off to Talheo in a private boat in the early evening. The owner, Jim Newkirk, offers a tour of the cannery which includes an art gallery, the former office that still houses antique maps, the bunkhouse, and dining hall. An organic vegetable garden provides the raw materials for the gourmet five-course feast waiting for guests after the tour. Visitors can stay the night in a restored 1920s bunkhouse where cannery workers once lived.

Logistics. BC Ferries offers service to Bella Coola twice a week during the summer season (June-September). Fares and schedules are available at: www.bcferries.com.

For more information about the Great Bear Rainforest and the conservation effort to preserve its resources contact: National Resource Defense Council, www.nrdc.org, and the Forest Action Network, www.fanweb.org. Read The Great Bear Rainforest: Canada's Forgotten Coast by Ian McAllister, Karen McAllister, and Cameron Young. And be sure to visit the House of Smayusta in Bella Coola where Nuxalk activists are based. For a guide, contact Darren Edgar, Bella Coola's Goodwill Ambassador, (250) 799-5263. See www.bcadventure.com/adventure/explore/cariboo/cities/bella.htm for more info.

KOREY CAPOZZA is a freelance writer who covers off-the-beaten-track travel.