Cassiar Highway, Bears and Hyder

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Sun Sept 2: Left Whitehorse. Stopped at Miles Canyon for a walk and pictures. This was another treacherous stretch of the Yukon River for the Stampeders. Initially many boats wrecked here, and later they had to have a pilot take the boats through this area. We didn’t get back on the road until 3pm, but still made it to our destination at Rancheria. There is a restaurant, gas station, motel and campground at mile 710 of the Alaska Highway. There was one other camper in the campground. We camped by the river and felt like it was really getting late in the season with not many people left making the trek home. Our trip now is so different from our trip north. When we were heading north there was an excitement when we’d talk to people. We’d meet people that had already been to Alaska and were now on there way south. Also there were people heading north and we’d discuss which route and what people were planning to see. Now there’s significantly less people on the roads and the destination is home or somewhere south for the winter. We’ve heard that the birds have migrated south 2-3 weeks early this year, so there maybe an early winter.

Mon Sept 3: Gassed up the RV at the place we camped last night. The day is starting out as overcast, cold and raining. Started down the Cassiar Highway. It was paved in the beginning, but then turned to dirt. Our speed was about 40 miles per hour today, max. The road was muddy from the rain and my car is now the color of the dirt road. We saw a black bear saunter across the road. It went up into the woods and spent time eating.

Our break today was at the Cassiar Mountain Jade Store. They mine it and process it. I was surprised to learn that 70% of the world’s Jade is mined in this area. I bought a pair of maple leaf shaped earrings, made out of Jade. Also a small Jade figurine in the shape of an Inuksuk.

We’re surprised by the number of things that are closed already. It’s one thing to hear about things being closed and it’s another to drive by them with their driveways blocked. I can see why, with the light traffic of tourists heading south, it may not pay to stay open. Also with fewer choices, we’re all directed to what is open. We drove 208 miles today and it took us all day. We’re camped by Dease Lake which is a town that has services all year. We gassed up the RV again, as gas stations are scarce on this Cassiar Highway.

We’re not having any trouble giving up our late hours, now that the sun sets earlier. During the summer we would stay up until after midnight, as it was just too hard to get to sleep with it light out. It was also hard to sit down in the evening to blog. Now the evenings are cooler and dark earlier, so it’s a good time to settle in and blog or do odds and ends. We’ve gotten along fine with seldom having any television stations. Radio stations are few, but we receive them more often than TV. Tonight we have one radio station. I do miss the news and weather, but it goes on whether I know about it or not. The bigger picture of the weather forecasts helps us to plan whether to stay longer or move on. Tomorrow we’re going to be on a more scenic stretch of the road, so better visibility will be appreciated. There have been a lot of opportunities to “leave a book, take a book,” or used books for 50 cents. So we haven’t been lacking things to read and have read things we wouldn’t normally have read.

Tues Sept 4: Continued south on the Cassiar Highway. Drove through 2 areas that have had problems this year. One is where there had been a slide, which had closed the highway earlier in the season. They’re really reworking that whole area. The other is where the road is down to one lane due to it washing away. There were no big delays or precarious situations. We had been warned that when the road all of a sudden gets wide, don’t pull over and rest, as it’s for aircraft landing. Yesterday and most of today the road had no center lines or edge lines. The road varied in width and bridges were relatively narrow. We never crossed a bridge when another vehicle was on it and approaching us. Late today as we’re winding through some mountain curves, there are lines on the road and it’s really paved!!! We speculated that it would end around the next curve, but it kept going. We stopped for the night at Bell 2 Lodge. We needed a pull-through as we don’t want to unhook the car until we get to our next destination. We’re hoping for a good cleansing rain in the night to take off some of the dirt.

Bell 2 has more than just camping. They have a café, a licensed restaurant, a lodge, gas station and helicopters. In the winter there is heli-skiing. There are log cabins of various sizes and they must have wood fireplaces as we could see and smell the smoke from a couple of them. This place is more high-class city rustic.

We’re still seeing bike-packers on the road and in the campgrounds. I’m in awe of them being able to bike and carry all their supplies and then camp at night. We’ve seen those peddling long uphill grades more often than walking their bikes up. I’m impressed by all the different ways people travel. Tonight one of our neighbors is in a regular van. They probably have the rear seats removed to make room for sleeping and their supplies. In the past we’ve talked to other people traveling this way. They move a lot of stuff to the front seats to make room to sleep. These are not young kids; in fact I suspect they are older than I am.

The weather today had been a light rain off and on. The clouds have been high enough that we were able to see the peaks of most mountains. We’re back in an area where there are glaciers. We’ve had 3 days of being in the RV for long periods and we’re looking forward to settling in to our next destination. I seem to be able to take 3 days on the road before I feel I’ve had enough and don’t want to go any further. Tomorrow we’ll be in Hyder and will stay there awhile.

Wed Sept 5: The road to Hyder was filled with sights we hadn’t seen in a while. We saw a glacier, and a black bear and cub cross the road. There is no US customs at the border, but there is Canadian customs. The road was in much better shape on the Canadian side of the border. The roads are not paved in Hyder. It rained most of the day, so all the potholes were filled with water and easy to see. We quickly learned that weaving down the street is not necessarily a sign of an impaired driver, but of trying to drive on the parts of the roads that have the fewest or shallowest potholes. We camped at Camp Run-A-Muck. Most shopping is done in Stewart, so when we found we couldn’t find what we needed in Hyder, we headed back across the border to buy the few groceries that we needed. In the evening we went out to the bear viewing area at Fish Creek, but didn’t see any bears. We still saw salmon in the streams and the report said that there had been several grizzly bears there in the morning. We called it a day and headed for home in the twilight. As we’re driving home we see a car in the distance stopped, which is usually a good sign of wildlife spotting. The car would move slowly forward and we could see walking down the middle of the road a grizzly bear. It was unconcerned by the car and seemed to look back periodically to asses it’s following. It would wander to the side to check something out, but then come right back to the middle of the road. We followed it for a surprising distance, before it finally headed into the woods.

Thurs Sept 6: Today we got up with our alarm clock, so we could go out and see the bears in the morning. It was another cold, rainy day so we wore multiple layers under our rain ponchos. There were several people there and all set up when we arrived. In some places people get together to watch sunsets, here they get together to watch the bears. The people were well equipped to patiently wait in the rain to see which bears showed up today. Cameras were poised on tripods and had covers and umbrellas to protect some very impressive cameras. I have a much better appreciation for the patience it requires taking wildlife photos. We stayed out there a couple hours and in that time the grizzly bear they called Monica arrived with her 3 cubs. They stayed at the far end of the pond, so with our little camera we didn’t get good pictures, but we did get a good show. We saw them swimming and one of the cubs leaped off a log into the water. Also at one point Monica and 2 of the cubs were up on a small island in the brush, and one cub was all alone in the water. It stood up on its hind legs and looked really worried and called out. It must have gotten an answer, as it then hustled up onto the island also. The Ranger said that there was a boar that was nearby that had threatened the cub.

We headed for home to warm up and plan the rest of our day. On the drive home there was a bear on the road again. We decided to drive up to Salmon Glacier viewpoint. It’s a long and tedious drive, with the roads in poor condition, but somewhat better when we got back into Canada. We stopped for a quick look at the bear viewing area and there was some activity. There was a grizzly in one area and a black bear with a little cub in another area. The black bear and cub were headed down stream when they encountered the grizzly. The cub went up the tree and the grizzly went quickly across the stream, up the bank and onto the road. Shortly after that, I noticed one of the Rangers had un-holstered his bear spray and was shaking the can. Fortunately he didn’t need to use it and the grizzly took off into the woods across the road.

We continued on our drive up to the glacier viewing area. There was fog occasionally, but at other areas we had a good view. We hoped that when we got to our destination we’d have a clear view of the glacier. Instead we only had a nice view of the fog. We did see the lower parts of the glacier and lots of waterfalls. Again on our drive home we saw a bear in the same area. Bikers are referred to as meals on wheels.

We tried to have dinner out in Hyder, but both restaurants were closed by 7:20, so we headed to Stewart. We had the best meal of our trip at The Bitter Creek restaurant. Our salad had butter lettuce which is a soft mellow lettuce. We had halibut with a sauce and it was great. Then we ended our meal with cheesecake with a wild berry sauce. The restaurant was busy and we had to wait for a table. When the couple before us got their table it was a table for 6, so they asked if we wanted to join them. It made the meal even more enjoyable to share and hear each other’s summer adventures.

Fri Sept 7: Today was the first day that we didn’t see any bears either at the viewing area or on the road. The one grizzly that we had seen yesterday had been there for a couple hours earlier, doing her circuit of streams and ponds. The sun actually shone today, but we weren’t tempted to drive up to see the glacier. Doing that road once was enough. We did talk to some people that went up to see the glacier and they said it was awesome and they had a clear view of it.

Tonight we closed Glacier Bar on our last evening in Alaska. We did not get Hyderized, but did enjoy checking out this landmark. There were several German customers when we arrived, but left before we finished our drinks. Then we were the only customers left, so were able to visit with the owner while we finished our drinks. It was interesting, as always, to talk with a local person. She was happy to be able to close up early, as it was getting late in a busy season.

Sat Sept 8: The beautiful mountains have disappeared behind the clouds again. This is a temperate rain forest, so we were lucky yesterday to get such a magnificent view. Last night we could stargaze. We’re well away from lights, so the night is extremely dark now and the stars were brilliant.

Plan: Moving on.

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Photos

Mama bear
A black bear on the road to Stewart and Hyder.

Cub on the road
Black bear cub following mom.

Hyder, Alaska
"The friendliest ghost town in Alaska." At one point it was designated a ghost town due to it's low population. The population has risen since that time, but it is still retains that phrase on tourist items.

Seafood Express
One night we ate at "The Bus" in Hyder. They will be closing for the season on Sept 15th, therefore their menu was more limited, but we still enjoyed a fresh seafood dinner. We also bought some frozen halibut from their store to take home with us.