THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 105 August 29, 2009 Salmon Glacier

The morning was very overcast so we took our time getting going and just relaxed for most of the morning. The sun came out around lunch so we packed up and headed out with our final destination being the Salmon Glacier.

Our first stop was the Fish Creek Viewing Area for a quick look. No bears. I wasn’t too disappointed yet as again I realized it wasn’t the right time. Also we would be stopping on our way back from the Glacier.

So away we went and a short time up the road we started to climb. It is 17 miles to the toe of the Glacier and 22.9 miles to the summit.

We have been privilege to a lot of pretty spectacular scenery over the past four months. I have used a whole spectrum of descriptive words in trying to portray what our eyes have seen. Today, however, we ran out of superlatives to try and describe what Mother Nature has created. The only way to try to describe the brilliance of her creation is to give it its own word. Specnomenal is our description which puts what we have seen at the top of the list. We thought the drive into Stewart was, as Ricky Donny would say, Awesome and today was more of the same. Only there was more and it was just a notch above.

We took a lot of pictures and I have posted a few but only by seeing it in person can you really grasp the brilliance. I encourage everyone to put the drive to Salmon Glacier on their bucket list. You will not be disappointed

Even with stopping to take a lot of pictures we finally reached the toe of the Glacier and followed it along for another 5.9 miles to the summit. It is the only glacier where we have been able to drive along side of it for its entirety. It is also the only glacier where we could actually see the summit without getting in an airplane. Pretty Specnomenal.

The Toe

The Middle

The turn to the Summit

The Summit

We enjoyed the view at the summit and even had our picture taken before moving along.

We found out that there was another glacier five miles up the road. On the next 5 miles we saw a lot of evidence of mining and a few closed up mine shafts, one of which was at the end of the road.

It was at this point that we could view the other glacier and we found out it’s name is Berendon Glacier. The main glacier is Berendon but there are actually three glaciers converging into one toe. I am not positive but I think their names are Frank Mackie and Le Duke. We keep getting different versions from different people.

We decided to head back as we wanted to stop at Fish Creek again and we knew the drive back would take just as long as it did coming up. The road conditions were not that great and at times we were down to one lane with a drop of about 2000 feet straight down.

We arrived at Fish Creek about 6:30PM and had been told that after 7PM was the best bear viewing time. Again no bears. However we decided to hang around for awhile hoping that one or two would appear. As I was standing there looking at all the people waiting and watching, I couldn’t help but wonder who the spectacle here was. Us or the bears.

We were getting ready to leave when we started chatting with a fellow from England. He and 11 other guys were on a round the world bike tour and they had been on the road for 3 months with one month to go. They had traveled 14000 miles to date and had another 6000 to go before they reached New York and flew home. It sounded like a heck of a trip.

Well, thankfully we ran into him because it delayed our leaving and low and behold Kathy spotted a bear just as we were about to go through the exit. So we hurried back down the platform and watched the bear Kathy first spotted and another one do a little fishing. We watched as they would pick out a fish and then chase it until it got away or they caught it. When they caught a fish they only ate the roe and left the rest for the scavengers.

I took a few pictures but my battery was low, probably from all the pictures on the drive to Salmon Glacier, and the quality wasn’t very good. Kathy did get some good video and one good picture.

We watched the bears for about 30 minutes and then it started to rain so we headed back to the campsite and called it a night.

It was a specnomenal day.

THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 104 August 28, 2009 Hyder, AK and Stewart, BC

The day started with rain, not uncommon here. So we took our time checking out of the campsite as we wanted to move to a different site. One with Wifi, there is blogging to be done.

However, prior to moving we headed to the visitors centre to get a lay of the land. We learned that there are two must see things in the area. 1) Fish Creek Viewing Platform and 2) Salmon Glacier.

We also learned that even though one town is in the US and one in Canada they are very similar. They are both at the head of the Portland Canal and were started around the same time due to mineral discoveries, mainly copper, gold and silver. The two towns were very prosperous until the largest mine closed in 1950 at which time both areas diminished in size with Hyder actually being declared a ghost town. Today it has around 100 full time residents and most of these people still do a little mining or work for the mining company that has to maintain the area. Its byline is “ The friendliest ghost town is the US". There is a custom here and that is to be “Hyderized”. Hyderized is accomplished by downing a shot of 150 proof liquor. ( Everclear ) I’ll pass. However I’ll bet Ricky Donny was “Hyderized” on his brief visit.

Stewart has faired a little better as their population is around 500 today down from over 10,000 prior to WW1. Stewart was originally called Portland City but the US Postal Service said there were too many cities of that name so the Post Master changed the name to Stewart, his last name.

Hyder, Alaska

Stewart, BC














After leaving the visitors center we headed over to the US and the Fish Creek Fishing Platform. It is 5 miles north of Hyder and is accessible via a very rough road, a lot of large potholes. The platform is actually in the Tongass Forest and is run by the forestry service. We hung around for awhile but we struck out. No bears. The timing was not very good as early morning and early evening are the best times.

So we drove around Hyder ( that didn’t take long ) and headed back to Canada. We had to go through customs but they are pretty lax with so many people coming and going. Plus there is nowhere to go when you are in Hyder except back to Canada. The US does not even bother with a customs station because if it.

We arrived at our new campsite and got set up. Today we actually took the camper off the truck as we plan to go to Salmon Glacier tomorrow. The road to Salmon Glacier is a continuation of the road to Fish Creek and we expect it to be the same rough conditions all the way to the glacier.
A catastrophe was avoided when we realized we hadn’t taken all the supports off before trying to drive out from under the camper. Thankfully I was going slow and no damage was done. We finished setting up and just in time as it started to rain.

We had supper and called it a day.

THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 103 August 27, 2009 Terrace to Stewart, BC

It’s another glorious day, the sun is shinning.

We are eager to get going, okay I am eager to get going as I want to get to Hyder, AK as soon as possible. More on why later. So we head out and our first stop was a hot springs that was just down the road from the campsite. Upon arriving we decided not go into as it did not look at that good. Dirty and run down. So we headed back toward Terrace to pick up Hwy 16 again and headed east towards Prince George.

We stopped at a turnout to take a few pictures and met a nice couple from Alberta. Bob and Nicki Middlekoop were on a bike holiday and were returning from the Queen Charlotte Islands. You realize it is a small world when you find out that Nicki is from Powassan, Ontario and Bob is from Emsdale, Ontario. Powassan is 18 miles from my home town and Emsdale about 60 miles.

They were trying to decide whether to carry on to Alberta by the direct route through Prince George or take a detour to Hyder or maybe Laird Hot Springs. I wonder which way they went.

We chatted with Bob and Nicki for awhile and then headed off. They are very nice people and we wish them well in their travels.

We continued on along Hwy 16 and the scenery was quite beautiful and of course we took pictures.

After about 50 miles we came to Hwy 37 which is called the Cassiar Highway. This highway joins the Yellowhead (Hwy 16) and the Alaska Highway just outside of Watson Lake. We will be driving the entire highway but today we are only going as far as the Stewart Hyder Access Road ( Hwy 37A)

The first part of the drive was through Nass Basin and was mostly low lying with lots of trees. We could see mountains in the distance but didn’t come anywhere near them.
We did come across a bear standing at the side of the road and as we got closer it was not running away. This is unusual as any others we have seen scurried away as soon as we got near them. Suddenly her cub darted from the other side of the road and that is why she had not moved. I tried to get pictures but it is hard to drive and takes photos at the same time. This makes Kathy nervous for some reason but I can’t figure out why.

The road was good and we made good time with the occasional stop for pictures.

We reached the cutoff for Stewart (Hwy 37A) around 4PM and we expected to be in Stewart around 5PM as it is only 40 miles. However we didn’t count on the view. The drive into Stewart was spectacular and it necessitated many stops for pictures. It seemed like it was a WOW moment every time we came around a bend. The unfortunate aspect of this landscape is that it is not conducive for picture taking. The vista’s are too broad and the camera really can’t capture the true splendor.

We saw quite a few glaciers with Bear Glacier being the largest. The majority of them have receded but Bear Glacier flows to the bottom of the mountain. It is the only one named that I am aware of.

In my opinion this 40 mile stretch of road is the most spectacular we had seen in our travels. It rivals the flight over the Misty Fjords Monument. Just two of Mother Nature’s Masterpieces we have been fortunate enough to experience.

We completed the marathon drive just before 7PM and quickly found a campsite so we could settle in for the night.

We will be going over to Hyder tomorrow. Weather permitting.

It was a glorious second sun filled day.

THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 102 August 26, 2009 Prince Rupert to Terrace, BC

Upon waking and venturing outside we felt this new sensation on our faces. The SUN. It was back and mightily appreciated. So with this new found freedom we quickly packed up and headed out. Our first stop was downtown Prince Rupert where we did a few chores, grocery shopping, mailed a package and starbucks. It is pretty bad when starbucks makes it onto your must do list.

Once the chores were done we headed over to the Northern BC Museum to have a look. We are starting to see a commonality with a lot of these small towns throughout BC and Alaska. The native population arrived around 8000 – 10,000 years ago, probably shortly after the glaciers receded. The white man arrived and in his quest for furs, gold, logging and fishing the towns grew and survived. However the museum did have a lot of nice artifacts and it was interesting to go through.

Once we left the museum we walked over to the Mariners Memorial War. This park is dedicated to the men and women of Prince Rupert who lost their lives at sea. There is a plaque on the wall with each persons name and date of disappearance.

The next stop was Cow Bay and the information center. Cow Bay is a shopping district that is on an actual bay. The original name of the bay was Calvin’s Cove but the name was changed when someone brought in the first herd of cows. The cows were transported on a barge but there wasn’t a dock big enough to unload them so they were pushed into the water. They swam ashore in the shallow part of Calvin’s Cove and from that day on it became Cow Bay.

We then had a quick lunch and headed down the road to Terrace. It is not that far but the drive was quite nice. Upon leaving Prince Rupert we discovered one aspect about the town that we did not know. Prince Rupert is on an island. We reached Terrace without any pictures as Kathy’s camera was low on batteries and the pictures she took on the way did not turn out. However I wouldn’t lie to you, it was a nice drive.

We drove along Hwy 16 until we hit terrace and then we headed south on Hwy 37 towards Kitimat and our campsite. On the way I almost Davy Crockett’ed a bear as a large male ran down an embankment and right in front of us. I had to hit the breaks fairly hard or he would have been toast. I am sure the truck would not have faired all that well either. However, we did miss him and carried on.

We stopped for the night at Furlong Lake Campground on Lakelse Lake, a very nice spot. We lit a fire and had a light supper outside for before calling it a night. Of course marshmallows were involved as they are every time we have a fire.

It was nice to be dry.