Salmon Glacier Road

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Saturday August 27, 2011
Salmon Glacier Road

It rained last night; surprise, surprise. Everything was wet and overcast in the morning. I decided to ride up to Salmon Glacier today. As mentioned this is the 5th largest glacier and the largest accessible by vehicle. I got a good early start. The general store was closed for some reason which meant virtually no food for the day.

I stopped by the bear viewing platforms. There were no bears and they charge $5 for a 1 day permit. I said I would keep moving on and stop by on my way back.

The road is in pretty rough shape and all gravel. The gravel was quite compact so things were not muddy and my bike did not get very dirty at all. The first 10 km’s is flat; the remaining 27 km’s is all up hill. Fortunately my bike was empty of all its gear. I think it would have been an exceptionally difficult day if I had all my gear.

What an exceptional road! The scenery is unbelievable and the climb is so high. That being said I am sure it would truly truly be unbelievable if it was sunny out. It was quite cold when I finally reached the summit. There was some guy up at the top selling DVD’s and postcards out of his van. He said I had ride down the far side of the mountain to get closest to the glacier if I wanted to climb down and walk the surface. I figured I had come this far I should at least walk on this glacier. The climb down onto the glacier was a lot more work than it looked. I don’t think too many people walk over this glacier. There is no easy access. I don’t know if it is dangerous to walk on glaciers but you defiantly do not want to slip into one of the thousands of crevices. No one would ever find you; and it would be a cold death. I got at least half way across before I sort of lost my safe path. I checked the time and noticed how late things were so I headed back to make the big climb out. If I had my camping gear and food I would have continued down the road for the remainder of this road. After climbing back up to the summit I had almost 27 km’s of straight coasting. On my way back I stopped by the bear view area and there were no bears at the time. I rode into Hyder completely exhausted. I had ridden about 80 km’s; 40 km’s there and 40 km’s back.

I am updating my blog trying to make it through another night of karaoke. I don’t think I will ever understand people’s interest in giving each other headaches.

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Photos

Bald Eagles
I was not expecting this shot. Notice the immature Bald Eagle also in the picture.

Salmon Glacier is Actually Found in BC
The road starts in Hyder but goes into BC. I was surprised not to see the manditory seatbelt sign that follows every provincial sign in the country.

My Bike Is Near The Top
I know this mountain doesn't look very big. But somewhere up at the top (too small to see) is my bike. I climbed down to walk on Salmon Glacier.

On Top Of Salmon Glacier
Some crevices were narrow and some were wide.

Comments

[Steven]

Seriously?
You seriously walked on a glacier? That would have been slippery for sure! Although cool none the less