Since we had thoroughly enjoyed the drive south on the Cassiar Highway, we decided to take the dead end road (37A) to Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, Alaska. It is only 40 miles long and ends at the easternmost and southernmost border of Alaska, the tiny community of Hyder.
Not knowing what to expect, we booked a night at an RV park in Stewart. We saw a lot of wildlife along the way and the short drive was amazing.
There were so many waterfalls in a five mile stretch that I lost count. I hate that a camera cannot compare to seeing them in person. Can I say AMAZING?
We saw so many mountains with glaciers on top, glaciers coming down the side, and some glaciers almost reaching the ground. The blue ice looks beautiful, especially when the sun hits it just right.
The lake you see in front of it was dammed by the glacier itself until 1967 when it retreated enough for the water to pass through. Everything ices over during the winter though.
Stewart was a quaint little town with a lot of character. The downtown buildings were painted in bright and lively colors. The current population is around 500 people, but I suspect a good number of those are miners.
They had a Canadian150th anniversary frame hanging at the beginning of the boardwalk and we are always suckers!
Then we took a quick stroll around town. Did you hear me say quick? And we saw just about everything!
Stewart is especially beautiful as it sits on tidelands at the top of the Portland Canal, the fourth largest fjord in the world. The canal, 90 miles long, opens up to the Pacific Ocean south of Ketchikan and north of Prince Rupert.
Stewart reminded me so much of Valdez, minus the large harbor. Coming to this area, you can do and see just about anything that you can find in the upper portion of Alaska.
After stopping by the hardware store, we headed across the Alaska state line to Hyder. There was no immigration to clear us as we drove the whole one mile around a corner. Simple!
Hyder has a population of about 87 people. It was not like Stewart at all. It was more like an abandoned mining town that had definitely seen its better days.
Alaskans here set their watches an hour ahead of the rest of the state to match Stewart in the Pacific time zone, and they accept Canadian currency. Not surprising, there was only one option for dinner, because the second option had closed for the season.
We followed a gravel road up and down mountains for 17 miles beyond the end of pavement to view Salmon Glacier. Along the way, we passed a couple of active mines and we crossed back into Canada, with only a sign marking the border.
They say this is the largest glacier that you can see by car and the fifth largest in Canada. The road continued for five more miles to another active mine, but I refused to go after the semi-treacherous long drive without guard rails. There’s no way I could work in that mine and repeatedly go down that road!
After dad navigated back down to the valley, we stopped at the bear viewing river, appropriately named fish creek. The salmon were currently running and bears are frequently visiting this area to fill up on protein.
The Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site is three miles north of Hyder and it has wooden walkways along the creek that allows visitors to see wild bears in their natural habitat.
This experience was incredible! And for only $5 you can see bears eating salmon from a river! In Kodiak, a flight to see bears in a river was priced at $525 per person. Again, it was AMAZING! There might have been more bears, but it was a warm day for Hyder.
One large bear came out and another smaller bear poked his head out from the bushes. A park ranger told me he was probably hiding from the bigger bear and trying not to be seen.
The next morning, we woke to rain and fog. What a difference a day makes! If you ever get a chance to see this beautiful area, I hope you get sunshine like we did!
