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Published: August 1st 2008
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From Valdez we drove the Richardson Highway to Paxson, where we turned west to explore the Denali Highway. The first 20 miles are paved and we found the Tangle Lake BLM campground just before the gravel began. It was free and very nice.
Although the weather remained cloudy and rainy, we decided to take on the bumpy gravel road and hike with Wendy and Jeff Bailey through the tundra in the wilderness. We were in search of wildlife and were not disappointed when two caribou sighted us about 300 feet away. They kept their eye on us while running a circle around us. It was so cool. There was lots of lichen there to keep them full.
Then north on to the Tok Cutoff where slow going minimized the effect of the frost heaves. The Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, one of the largest and least accessible preserves in North America, has only two entries. We took the northern entry, Nabesna Road, to explore the area. Leaving the RV at Hart Ranch RV Park (near the highway), we drove with Jeff and Wendy and found the Caribou Creed hike. Through the woods, over the streams and up the steep hill
we went. And the view was gorgeous! No interesting wild life but lots of bear and moose scat so we knew we were being watched!
Back to Tok, one of the towns along the Alaska Highway who see travelers on their way to and back from their Alaska travels. We cleaned and restocked. From there we were also treated to the same road construction we experienced on our way, just in different stages. But we took it slow and had no damage. Interesting that crews build improvised cement plants along the highways. They provide good signage and give plenty of notice for damaged road.
On to Mukluk Annie’s for lunch before tackling the Cassiar Highway. This is one of the roads that elicit opposite and strong responses about its condition from former travelers. So for you who are considering this trip, we recommend you go for it and take the Cassiar. Although you do save 125 miles compared to continuing on the AK Highway, you likely don’t save any time since the first half of the highway you speed up and slow down to navigate frost heaves and construction. But again, there are good road warnings to depend
upon.
The great benefit of the Cassiar is watching the bears at Hyder’s Fish Creek. It is just a hoot seeing them catch and eat salmon from the creek. And safety is not a problem with the wooden and sided walkway from the parking lot and following along side Fish Creek for a quarter mile. This walkway was built in the last few years because people got close enough to bear to disturb them and then the rangers had to pepper spray the bear to protect the people. Enough of that!
People just hang out there for hours, many with professional photo equipment, setting their alarms to be there when the bear eat breakfast at 6AM. We were not that crazy, but did spend hours there in waiting, and made new friends who were also crazed with this experience. We met Nancy and Jake Jacobs from Wisconsin, first at a provinvial park, and again in Hyder. We will meet up with them at Jasper NP.
I need to give credit to British Columbia’s provincial parks. Prior to Stewart, we stayed overnight at Boya Lake Provincial Park. Canadians do a great job on their provincial parks and
there are several on this highway. We took a hike around the lake where Harley decided to take a swim and ran right over the beaver dam. We laughed! Beavers get our vote for the most industrious and multi-skilled animals on the lower food chain.
Other attractions to the Cassiar are the mountain views and wildlife. We saw two black bear and a coyote along the way. The 38 mile Stewart-Hyder Access Road veers southwest from the Cassiar and boasts many glaciers, including the very impressive Bear Glacier. Stewart is at the head of Portland Canal, a narrow saltwater fjord and Canada’s most northerly ice-free port. It creates a natural boundary between Alaska and Canada. So by driving from Stewart, BC to Hyder, AK and the bear, you go through Canadian customs each time. Not a biggie though. They are really after the bad guys.
We also drove the gravel to see the Salmon Glacier. It is huge, the largest we've seen and is so close to the access road. We were in awe!
After two days in Stewart we left for Prince George. On the way we felt that we were re-entering civilization. A Movie Gallery,
landscaped homes, clean cars and GRASS. We loved the starkly beautiful mountains, oceans and glaciers and the Alaskan survivalist determination, but it feels good to see the familiar, more comfortable and frankly easier existence we have here “down below.”
We will be leaving for Jasper National Park soon with more stories to tell.
We included a photo here that we were unable to send with our last entry of us with our Halibut catch. I realize that it could be considered "brag material" but are so proud that we actually caught fish in Alaska!!
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