Haida Gwaii Challenge

Reviewing the Tour Map allows guests the opportunity to get familiar with the highlights, wildlife, and geographical locations of the tour. The goals of our Haida Gwaii kayak trips are to be fun, engaging, educational, and relaxing.

This trip will be offered in 2025 – Details to follow early 2024…

Kayaking Gwaii Haanas – Haida Gwaii is a true wilderness experience and requires a flexible mindset to travel safely in a self-propelled vessel.  This is a self-supported kayak tour, which uses a mixed fleet of kayaks for your convenience, confidence and enjoyment.  The success of the tour depends on weather, tides, guest interests, and the overall ability of the group. No one person (guides included) can have any control over such variables.

Below is an itinerary, created from over two decades of travel thru Gwaii Haanas, that guests have enjoyed. That said, it is your tour, and you may have your own personal bucket list to check off, so OSK will try to facilitate any deviations from the below schedule.

2025 Kayak Vacations

Anniversary Sale – We have extended our 2024 prices into 2025 for you to Enjoy !

Review all Haida Gwaii Kayak Tour Dates 

Click Here – For details on wildlife, highlights, and geographical locations regarding this tour.

Below is an overview, created from over two decades of travel through Gwaii Haanas, that guests have enjoyed.  Kayaking Gwaii Haanas – Haida Gwaii is a true wilderness and requires a flexible mindset to travel safely in a self-propelled kayak.  The success of the tour depends on the weather, tides, guests’ interests, and the overall ability of the group.  No one person, including guides, has no control over such variables.

We have been introducing people of all ages, abilities, from around the world to Haida Gwaii for the past 30 years, and we want to ensure that all our guests have a clear understanding of our trips before we start, so that your expectations are met.

Personal Fitness

First and foremost, it’s important to note that age is just a number to us. We see that you are an adventurous soul who seeks intrinsic wilderness experiences, and that’s exactly what we aim to provide. If you’re in good physical condition and willing to share in occasional camp chores, you’re welcome on our tours.

We travel in a self-propelled mix fleet of single and double sea kayaks, without any support boat on any of our kayak tours. Kayak experience isn’t required, but we ask that guests feel comfortable around water. More important than your paddling skill is your past camping experience, which will assist you greatly in ensuring your comfort in a remote wilderness setting like Haida Gwaii.

Lifting and Carrying

To make any trip successful, all guests must participate in the daily chores and contribute to the overall team environment, such as food cache, meal prep and clean up, setting up camp, collecting firewood, and drinking water. We can accommodate guests with physical limitations in this department, but we expect guests to be able to carry up to 20-30 pounds, as kayaks must be placed above the high tide line nightly in teams of 6-8 people.

Toilets

There are no outhouse facilities throughout Gwaii Haanas. We use low-impact practices such as the “intertidal flush,” which is a standard set by Parks Canada for all kayakers in Gwaii Haanas. Your guide will brief you on this practice and present a private area for the group washroom at each rest stop and campsite.

Bathing and Water

Many of our chosen camps have a freshwater source to collect water and take a bath. Your guides will create the boundaries along with a private location for guests. The kayak tour can carry 110 liters of water to sites that do not have a suitable or reliable water supply. Non-scented wet wipes are handy items around camp as they are convenient and easy.

OSK Principles

Our goal is to offer a wilderness experience that will remove you from your everyday distractions, replacing cell phones with solitude, and streetlights with stars. Let’s keep the wild, “WILD.” With this in mind, it’s our responsibility to travel through Haida Gwaii with an ethical

The perfect vacation looks different for everyone, so it’s important to ask yourself some initial questions when planning a trip to Haida Gwaii.

• Reviewing our Trip Planner can help navigate your next steps when preparing for a trip to Haida Gwaii.

Please note that Ocean Sound Kayaking doesn’t accept direct online bookings.

Instead, we prefer to speak to our guest over the phone, when possible, to answer any questions you may have and design the perfect trip for you. This is what sets us apart, the OSK difference.

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