A Village on the Water

Editor's Note: The author visited Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort, a second-generation family-run lodge in northern British Columbia. This article is the third of a four-part series on Nimmo Bay. Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the adventure.

Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort: Day 3

Thursday, May 22, 3:56pm

Survivor shows and wilderness-based reality TV have brought to the forefront the intriguing question that has often populated people's minds since the Industrial Revolution took hold and humans became, by and large, city dwellers living with modern conveniences: What is it like to live in the middle of the wilderness?

With wild animals as your neighbors, Mother Nature as your provider, and personal instincts and intelligence as your primary survival tools, life in the wilderness is beyond my true comprehension. My trip to Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort did not give me insight into the rough-and-tough survival aspect––with gourmet chefs, a wonderful masseuse and 5-star accommodations, it has been named one of the top luxury wilderness resorts in the world––but it did offer a glimpse into the "living in the middle of nowhere" aspect.

Nimmo Bay's enclave of cabins, built on stilts on a fjord-like bay just south of Alaska's Inside Passage, is only accessible by helicopter or float plane. The resort clings to the base of Mount Stephens and offers guests over 50,000 square miles of breathtaking beauty, including 10,000-year old glaciers, mountain tops, old-growth rainforests, remote islands, white sand beaches, hot springs, a 5,000-foot waterfall and over 50 pristine rivers and streams––the majority of which can only be reached by Nimmo Bay helicopters.

As grand as the operation is today, it all began with one man's dream over 20 years ago to run a fishing lodge with his wife and kids. "I wanted to make a living doing something where I could be with my family," explained Vancouver Island local Craig Murray, who started the lodge in 1980 after purchasing an old float house near Port Hardy and towing it by barge to Nimmo's current location. "Not a lot of jobs out here at the time other than logging and commercial fishing and those would require me to leave my wife and kids behind and travel to wherever there's work."

"There are 150 million things that can go wrong, and most of them did at some time or another, but we managed," said Craig. "We had no options––we had to make it work, even when the bank would say, 'Sorry, no more money.'"

Things have certainly worked out since then, as Nimmo Bay has become famous world-wide and Craig's oldest son, Fraser, has taken the reigns. Fraser and his wife, Becky, along with his younger sister, Georgia, and cousin, Jenny, have transformed Nimmo Bay from a fishing lodge to a more diverse operation also offering eco-adventures such as whitewater rafting, kayaking, paddle boarding, glacier trekking, bear- and whale-watching excursions and hiking.

"We are so lucky to be carrying on our mom and dad's legacy and putting our own stamp on it," said Georgia, who is also a rising star in the music industry. "It is very special to be a part of a family business."

On Day 1 at Nimmo Bay I enjoyed kayaking, paddle boarding and bear watching. Day 2 landed me on Nimmo Bay's quintessential adventure: a remarkable day of heli-hiking and heli-fishing in the mountains. Today, Day 3, gave me an opportunity to see a bit closer what life is like for the handful of hearty people who make this part of the world their home.

Fraser took my fellow guests and me on a day-long boat tour, traveling to see a tiny village built entirely on floating docks in a bay way beyond the far reaches of civilization.

Sullivan Bay also sports its own golf course, located at the far end of the dock, with a floating hole anchored in the ocean offering perhaps golf's most unique hole-in-one opportunity.

After touring Sullivan Bay, we dropped a few crab traps and boated along several waterfalls and rapids. The vast beauty of Nimmo Bay's surroundings cannot be captured by camera, in large part because you lose the sheer scale and immensity of it all. Nonetheless, this video shows a small glimpse of the scenery we enjoyed as we zipped away from Sullivan Bay.

Our next stop after Sullivan Bay was Billy's Museum. Billy Proctor lives in his own section of the world, in Echo Bay some miles away from Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort. He built and runs a museum with thousands of artifacts collected from the region.

When I saw this old man gingerly walking down to greet us as we pulled up to the dock I immediately thought I would like him. As soon as he started talking, it confirmed my suspicion. "The other day some old fart came to visit, and he was walking real slow out of his boat, so I asked him if he needed a hand," Billy told me during our visit. "The guy said, 'No, I'm just waiting for my dad.'"

Billy is full of fantastic stories; I could listen to him talk all day long. It is terribly cliché of me to say this, but he reminded me of the Native American father, Chingachgook, in "Last of the Mohicans." When Billy talks about the old days, you can't help but think, "Wow, this guy is the last of his kind." He will take a tremendous amount of history with him when he goes, and in the meantime he is doing what he can to share what he knows.

"Billy is a special guy," said Fraser, who teases back-and-forth with Billy like a grandfather. "He has an amazing sense of the history of this place."

Billy has collected thousands of various items, including arrowheads and crude knives that date back to 5,000 BC. He also has a 1910 mimeograph machine from Minstrel Island, Chinese opium bottles, bone fish hooks, a crank telephone Chinese opium bottles, old tools and engine plates, a scale from the old Simoom Sound post office and thousands of artifacts from the coast.

"Some stuff I just find when I'm looking around," he explained. "Some stuff people come and give to me. Nowadays people don't like to give their things away, they like to keep them for themselves, and that's OK, too, I suppose."

A guy like Billy Proctor has wisdom that you can only gain with years of experience. I am grateful I had the opportunity to meet him, and that Fraser and his family at Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort make experiences like this possible.

The sheer beauty of this wilderness in staggering––indeed, it is more than enough to attract the folks from all over the world whom come to Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort year after year. But the region's history adds a layer of richness that Fraser and his family hold dear to their heart, and share graciously and respectfully with their guests.