August 16 – Smithers, B.C.

We went back to Hyder this morning early to see if there were any bears at the creek. The only one we saw was a small black bear wandering through the bushes on the slope across the road. Most of the time, all you could see was wiggling bushes.

We drove up the road towards the glacier, finding old mill remnants

and were welcomed back into British Columbia but when headed the other way, Alaska didn’t care if you were welcome or not.

Approaching the south end of the Cassiar we stopped in the First Nations town of Gitanyow to see their totem poles. This was the first time I’d ever seen one with a hole designed into it.

We were fortunate enough to see a new one in progress. These were different than the ones I’d seen as a child in that the back of the pole is carved away rather than keeping the log solid. The carver said it would take six months to complete.

We stopped in Gitwangak as well but found photographing the totems to be very challenging due to their size so

we got a picture of their Anglican Church instead. The bell tower in the front dates from the 1880s.

Home for the night is the Safeway parking lot in Smithers, British Columbia. 

This post made possible by the free wi-fi at the Visitor Centre in Quesnel, B. C.

August 15 – Stewart, BC

We started out this morning from a little rest area on the north side of the Cottonwood River. It was a really nice private spot where stays were supposed to be limited to 8 hours but I didn’t see the sign until we left. We had the place to ourselves except for the first of four bears in a 24 hours period. He wandered by about 8 feet from the trailer. I was too busy closing the door on the other side of the trailer to get a picture.

The second bear wasn’t very helpful but we got a picture to prove we saw it. The third was also a black bear that dove into the berry bushes as we came to a stop. Decided not to take a picture of the berry bushes.

We stretched our drive today when we didn’t like the looks of the wayside that was penciled into the plan based on distance. Instead, we continued on to Stewart, BC / Hyder, Alaska in hopes of finally seeing brown bears. The drive to Stewart passes through a very steep walled, narrow valley with a number of hanging glaciers.

The biggest glacier was Bear Glacier. At one time it extended all the way across the valley.

Hyder (and Stewart) are located at the head of the Portland Canal. Hyder is accessible via water or by driving through Stewart. The US doesn’t bother with a Customs & Immigration station here, but you do go through Canadian customs when you return from Hyder.

The pink salmon were still running in Fish Creek. I chose this picture because they are relatively obvious, but there were many places where the fish were much more dense.

The US Forest Service constructed a board wall to try to keep the bears separated from the people wanting to watch them. I commented to the ranger about the number of fish and asked about viewing times. He stated they haven’t seen any bears for the last two days and they think it’s because there are so many fish the bears are getting them in other areas.

After we left the bear viewing area we figured out the problem. Apparently the bears need some berries in their diet to go along with all the salmon! We spotted this one about two miles from the bear viewing area!

I wanted to have dinner at the famous bus in Hyder

but she was closed today. I’m debating about hanging around until noon Alaska time tomorrow in hopes of being first in line.

I couldn’t resist a rust picture. I don’t think this RV is worth the effort to restore, but it is unique.

We haven’t seen any humming birds around, and based on the size of this humming bird feeder, I don’t think I want to!

Home for the night is Rainey Creek Campground in downtown Stewart, BC.

This post made possible by the wifi at McD in Smithers, B.C.

August 14 – South of Jade City

We enjoyed breakfast at the Yukon Motel café this morning and took advantage of their facility to drain our tanks before finally heading down the road with an eye out of animals to no avail. The trees, while still small in diameter are getting taller the further we go south.

At the request of the navigator, we stopped at the Rancheria Falls Recreation Site. A short walk on a very nice trail and a very nice boardwalk led to two small waterfalls. Of all of the rest areas and pull-outs today, this was the only one on the Alaska Highway that did not sport a sign about no camping or overnight parking. It was also the nicest, with some trees to separate the large parking area from the highway.

We fueled at Junction 37 ($1.54/liter – 10 cents cheaper than at Rancheria) and then headed south on the Cassiar, eventually to Alaska, although at our rate of travel it will be a couple days yet.

We’d been warned that the northern part of the Highway was very rough and it certainly started out that way with the first hour or so maxing out at 30 mph for any degree of comfort. The further south we go, the better the road was. We saw two large groups of RVs headed north. I was surprised to see large groups heading north the middle of August.

We stopped at Jade City to wander through the shop and their rusty equipment collection. Apparently this area is the largest producer of nephrite jade in the world. While there, we did manage to buy five matching dice to replace the mismatched ones we’ve been using in our ongoing Yahtzee tournament. Hopefully matched dice will help me win more often.

The large boulders look fairly nondescript to the untrained eye

until they are cut with saws of varying sizes.

In addition to the old rust on display, they also have a lot where they offer free overnight parking. We elected to continue south where we found a nice shady spot along the Cottonwood River at a rest stop on the old road alignment.

This was posted compliments of the free wi-fi at Rumors Cafe in Dease Lake.