Smithers to Kitwanga, British Columbia – 19 June 2024
Kitwanga was a very small town and the starting point of the Stewart Cassiar Highway. The campsite was fine other than the owner having two dogs which roamed around off leash which drove Jax crazy. Also there were signs up for bears everywhere so while we did a couple of trails in the park, I was hesitant to go too far alone with Jax in the mornings.
We did however venture out to visit the Gitwangak Battle Hill National Historic Site where there was once a fortified village. There were beautiful views of the Seven Sisters mountains in the distance which are part of the Seven Sisters provincial park. We also visited the Gitksan Indian village of Gitwangak (meaning “place of rabbits”), which lies on the bank of the Skeena River. It has 10 Totem Poles set alongside the road against a backdrop of towering mountains. What’s amazing is that these poles were erected between 1840 and 1942, and are a surviving set of artifacts that record, in a unique way, the history of the families that lived in the area. I found out that there are six different types of Totem Poles – house frontal poles, interior house posts, mortuary poles, memorial poles, welcome poles, and the ridicule or shame poles.
Along the same road as the historic Totem poles in Kitwanga, we saw a Bell tower, standing alone and separate to the remains of what used to be, St Paul’s Church. The church was built by the Gitksan people of Kitwanga in 1893 and is no longer is service.
