Known hazards
- Parks Canada: "the north coast is considered hazardous for small craft at all times so a small craft warning is always in effect and is not issued on the weather forecasts."
- "Be prepared for cold and wet conditions any time of year. Hypothermia is a real threat."
- Fog: "Always take a compass bearing of your destination. Avoid paddling and boating in the fog."
- West-coast exposure — storms off the open Pacific, few sheltered anchorages, and sections that remain uncharted.
- Significant tidal variation, strong currents, and strong winds that develop with little or no warning.
- Earthquakes and tsunamis, covered in Parks Canada's Before You Go Guide.
- Bear country, and full self-sufficiency: no cell service, and help is a long way off.
Leave No Trace
Stay on the paths at village sites, do not land in the bay in front of SG̱ang Gwaay, check in with the Watchmen at every staffed site, and treat ancestral remains and poles as what they are.