Soaking up the view from thermal pools on Hotspring Island, Gwaii Haanas National Park

Haida Gwaii has been dubbed the "Canadian Galapagos". Having escaped glaciation in the last Ice Age, this remote archipelago is home to unique flora and fauna, including the world's largest black bears and 15% of BC's nesting seabirds.

Formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, Haida Gwaii now goes by the name given to it by the First Nations people who have occupied this land for more than 10,000 years.

Floating some 150 kilometres off the west coast of British Columbia, Haida Gwaii is an arrow-shaped collection of 200 or so rainforest-covered islands nestled just beneath the Alaska Panhandle.

The southern portion of the archipelago is a national park known as Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, home to natural hot springs, thousand-year-old cedar and spruce trees, 1,750 kilometres of coastline, five Haida watchmen and the remains of ancient Haida villages. Due to its remoteness, fewer than 2,000 adventure-seekers a year make the journey here by boat or seaplane.

The most haunting site in Gwaii Haanas is a collection of rotting Haida mortuary poles strewn across a misty beach at the park's southern tip; this UNESCO World Heritage Site known as SGang Gwaay is all that remains of an ancient Haida village whose population was all but wiped out in an 1880s smallpox epidemic.

Haida Gwaii has long been a refuge for art and nature-lovers as well as outdoor types who want to kayak, hike, fish, camp and generally experience nature at its rawest.

Haida Gwaii is six hours' journey across the Hecate Strait by BC Ferries or one hour by seaplane from Prince Rupert. There are also regular flights from Vancouver (two hours).