Nisga'a Lava Beds

Around the year 1700 a cinder cone erupted in the Nass Valley, sending lava about twenty-two kilometres down the river and burying two Nisga'a villages; oral history records roughly two thousand deaths, making it the deadliest known geological event in Canada. Nisga'a accounts attribute it to children mistreating salmon, and the telling is part of the law taught in the valley. The lava field is the youngest in the country, still largely bare rock with tree islands. Anhluut'ukwsim Laxmihl Angwinga'asanskwhl Nisga'a, the memorial park, was the first in British Columbia jointly managed with a First Nation, established in 1992.

What you actually see

• The lava field - bare basalt running twenty-two kilometres down the valley.
• The cinder cone - the vent, visited only with a Nisga'a guide.
• The tree islands - patches of forest the flow went around.
• The memorial pole - a pole raised to those who died in the eruption.

When to go

June to September; the cone hike runs on a guided schedule in summer only. The valley road is long and remote. Snow closes the higher ground in winter.

Honest expectations

Walking on the lava outside marked trails is prohibited, both for safety and because the field is a burial ground. The cone can only be climbed with a Nisga'a guide on scheduled days. Services in the valley are minimal.

Nearby

Terrace lies south; 'Ksan is southeast.