Many people, myself included, have never heard of the Cassiar Highway, but I’m here to tell you that it is probably the most spectacular drive we have ever taken.
From the Yukon border to the Kitwanga Junction on Highway 16, the Cassiar (Hwy 37) is one of only two routes from B.C. to the Yukon Terrirory and Alaska. The total distance from north to south is 450 miles.
The second route is the Alaska Highway, which is the way we drove northbound. The Cassiar was more scenic and more beautiful in so many ways.
The road was freshly paved for most of the distance, so our eyes could look all around and not be worried about potholes or road damage. A lot of my pictures will have the back of my dad’s RV ahead of us because I stuck my camera out of the sun roof while Darin was driving.
Since the entire Hwy 37 was 450 miles long, we broke up the driving by spending a night at Tatogga Lake Resort. The lodge was very rustic and the elderly owner did everything from cooking to cleaning cabins.
We had a good meal and went for an evening drive to look for wildlife along the road. Bears were often seen eating grasses and berries right beside the shoulder of the highway. No luck that night though.
There was an extra room at the lodge for playing games and it also displayed several full sized stuffed trophies that were hunted over the years. A rack of various hunting arrows was hanging on the wall with notes about each person’s kill.
The campsites were nestled in the woods, but a trail to the lake led us to additional little cabins and tent sites. There was a plane parked at a dock that takes people to see the inactive volcano, Mt Edziza and its nearby glaciers.
The following day we counted a fox, two moose, and two black bears along the roadside or crossing the road. As we headed south, the temperature kept rising while the sun was shining bright. I never thought 65 degrees would feel so good!
In addition to all the different colored mountains, the trees had various colors and textures, and rivers and lakes were abundant. The rivers were often right beside the highway within view.
We decided to turn right and explore what was down highway 37A (see map), which added another day to our drive. I will write more about our detour to Stewart in my next post.
That section of 37A was particularly breathtaking. It reminded me of Hawaii, but sprinkle in some spruce and cedar trees.
As we continued down 37A, there were waterfalls on both sides of the road. We snaked our way through a rocky gorge with lovely views around every corner.
I already mentioned that the majority of the highway has no cell service. You can’t really count on any businesses or campgrounds having wifi either. It didn’t matter because nature and adventure were calling our names.
I can’t repeat it enough that you will be blown away while driving this stretch of highway. In fact, it would make a very memorable vacation by flying to Whitehorse and renting a motor home to take all the way down to Abbotsford or Vancouver, and then fly home.
