The Wilderness Ledger is a record of one-of-a-kind wilderness experiences in Western Canada, every
one of them explored, photographed and filmed by one person who has stayed there. This is
who, and how a place gets on.
Me, at work. A skiff seat, the long lens, and something worth waiting for.
There are a great many places in Western Canada to sleep near something wild. This is a
short list of the ones I would send a friend to, and the test is simple: real wilderness
on the doorstep, and someone has already thought about dinner and the bed. A place that
gets that mix right is rarer than it sounds, and it is the one thing every entry here has
in common.
Landing on a Johnstone Strait beach with Spirit of the West Adventures. It was a trip like this one that started all of it.
It started in a kayak, in 2010, in the Broken Group Islands. I have been enchanted by the outdoors here ever since.
Who is choosing
I am based in British Columbia. I grew up in Sweden, which is where I started out, working
in television as a cameraman and an editor. When I moved to Canada in 2010, friends invited
me along on a kayaking trip through the Broken Group Islands off Vancouver Island, and I
have been enchanted by this coast and the country behind it ever since.
The work has taken me a long way from that first paddle: documentary films across the
world, a good deal of it in Africa, and more than a decade of building 360° virtual tours
and flying drones for the views you cannot get to on foot. In 2019 I began specialising in
hospitality, and that is how I have come to know these places from the inside. I have
stayed at every one on this list, and at many more across the Canadian Rockies and the
Pacific Northwest that did not make it.
The right mix of wild and luxury
Nootka Sound Resort, floating in Galiano Bay. Nothing between the deck and the inlet.
Three of the 17: Mistaya above its tarn, Knight Inlet on the water, God's Pocket in
its cove. The photographs and films on this site are mine, made on site.
What "ledger" means
A ledger is a record, and each entry here is one. Season, capacity, access and rate band are
on the record for every place, checked against what the operator publishes and dated. Where
a number could not be confirmed it is marked inferred rather than guessed at, and where I
have only seen a place in one season, the page says so. If something here is wrong,
tell me and I will fix it.
Dinner at Caverhill Fly Fishing Lodge, where you feel like part of the family.
The person behind it
Ben Taft · Photographer & filmmaker
I capture the places that make people want to go. I specialize in video, photo, virtual tour and drone content for hospitality, adventure travel and ecotourism, from remote alpine lodges and luxurious resorts to off-grid living. Every listing and story on this site is shot and written first-hand, to help you cut through the noise and spend your limited time on truly special experiences.
Get in touch
hello@wildernessledger.com: corrections, additions and complaints all reach the same inbox, and I read them.
