September 11 – British Columbia

As we continue our way south we stayed at a few Yukon Territorial Parks along the Alcan. View were outstanding with clear skies. A few miles before Watson Lake we turned south on the Cassier Highwayor Highway 37, which is the alternative to taking the Alcan. A couple of miles south of the Alcan we encounter smoke and soon come to a stop at a roadblock. The road is open but they allow only one way traffic. Once it’s our turn to proceed a log of our truck and number of passengers are recorded. We are instructed not to stop for the next 40 km until we reach the end roadblock. Smoke is thick and we even see heavy smoke originating way less than a mile away. Then we start seeing burning, but no flames, on the road shoulders. It was impressive and intense. We passed the fire zone and the air cleared as we headed south. At the end of the day we decided showers were necessary so we did not tent but rather got a room and a roadside “resort.”

On the road the next day we continued south to our next destination, Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder Alaska. Hyder is just about the most southern town in Alaska and the only way in and out other than by private boat or plane is the road back to Stewart, Columbia. Hyder is connected with Stewart so much that is shares emergency services and lots more. There are no US Customs control at Hyder but once you cross back into Stewart one must pass through Canadian Customs. It is a low key border crossing. Hyder is the only town in Alaska not on Alaska Time. It shared Pacific Time with Stewart. It even has a British Columbia Area Code.

Hyder hosts a bear viewing area on a small stream. We were here 5 years ago and were just before the salmon run so we did not see bears then. Now we’re close the end of the salmon run and we miss it on the tail end. There are still salmon heading upstream and the stream is littered with many dead salmon. Last week there were still plenty of bears. Oh well, we will need to come again in the future. From Hyder and the bear viewing area the road climbs over 20 miles from sea level to well over 3,000 thfeet in elevation. At the top the road overlooks the Salmon Glacier.

The next day we leave Hyder and head south to the Yellowhead Highway which is part of the Tran Canada. We stop in Houston, BC and stay with our friends, Kerry and Dee Jay.

We spotted 4 different black bears all looking healthy and large.

Marsha viewing Salmon Glacier near Hyder, Alaska

Salmon Glacier 20 miles outside of Hyder, Alaska