Winding Down (Wednesday, September 02, 2009) Happy Anniversary to us! Today, we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary by departing Stewart, BC, and Hyder, AK, at 7 AM, headed south for our next to last day of the caravan. The scenery changed dramatically as we turned from Highway 37A to Highway 37, with fewer snow covered peaks, excellent roads, and more houses and people. We drove by two different First Nation villages with totem pole displays, took moving photographs of both, but didn’t stop at either. In fact, at one, we almost didn’t get the motorhome and Saturn turned around. We drove along the Bulkley River and thought of our friend, Rod Hardinger, who fished for steelhead here several years ago. Arriving in Smithers too early to park the RV, we filled-up with gasoline, parked the RV, and had an anniversary lunch. Smithers is a fly fishing town, has the world’s longest fly rod, and even has a statue of a fly fisher. Regrettably, we had too little time to fish, and there were not many steelhead in the river; maybe next time. After setting up the RV in Riverside Golf and RV Park, Kay drove back into town to see the sites.

Kay’s Take The downtown area of Smithers was charming. The theme of most of the main street shops was Swiss and there was even an applehorndoff statue at the beginning of the street. I browsed through several shops and almost all of the workers spoke with a heavy Swiss accent. Not sure how many folks from Europe settled here, but I suspect quite a few. It was a beautiful setting – the river and the mountains. I did find a bakery and they made the most delicious muffins I think we’ve had on the trip. We drove by New Hazelton instead of going to their heritage site and canyon site because we were becoming wary that some of these places weren’t prepared for ‘bigger rigs with toads’. Were we right! Some friends of ours in the caravan drove into there to see the attractions. They had a huge diesel pusher rig – 42 ft. with an SUV tow. They had to unhook their tow car three times in order for the coach to backup and get out of a ‘tight’ spot. The third time, our friend was so frustrated he misjudged and backed into his own car. Those of us who tow can’t back up unless we unhook our tow cars. When folks park too close to us in front or block us in in front, our only option is to unhitch our tow in order to back up and move forward. Yes, it is a pain, and we’re very careful not to get ourselves ‘locked’ in when we go places or pull off the road.

Our Recommendations for Smithers, BC Smithers is a Swiss-type village, and celebrates their Swiss heritage. The community is big on fly fishing, with the Bulkley River so close, and a walking tour of the business district is worth the effort. A guided fly fishing trip on the Bulkley will be on our next trip’s itinerary.

Campground We stayed at Riverside Golf and RV Park, and had 30 amp electric and water. Wi-fi was good. The parking spaces were tight, and most of us were parked with just a few feet separating the RVs, and for some reason, we were parked so that everyone had to hook-up on the passenger side, yet we all could have pulled in from the opposite direction and hooked up on the correct side! Our campgrounds have varied from great to marginal. The caravan wagon master has done an incredible job of arranging RV sites and activities for the whole of the caravan, and with 18 RVs, it’s hard to please everyone. Some, especially the big rigs, like all the luxuries in an RV site so as to take advantage of all the luxuries in their RVs, while others, like us, prefer more rudimentary features found in provincial or state parks. Also, when one tries to arrange for 18 sites, few RV parks can support that many RVs at one time. Les did a miraculous job of finding us places to park without driving lots of miles between stops, and our hat’s off to him.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 16,268.9
Beginning Time: 7:00 AM Pacific DST
Ending Mileage: 16,479.6
Ending Time: 1:30 PM Pacific DST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 210.7
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 7,087.5

The Cassiar Highway Lives Up to Its Reputation (Monday, August 31, 2009) We were positioned such that we had to wait until an RV finished “dumping” before we could vacate our site, then had to empty our own black and gray tanks as we would not have a sewer dump station for the next couple of days. Also, we added more potable water since we would not have a water connection the next couple of days. Also, we both had numerous bug bites that swelled to about the size of a quarter and itched like all get out. Consequently, it was about 8 AM before we left Mountain Shadow RV Park and Campground. The Cassiar Highway steadily improved as we drove further south, and the scenery was spectacular at every turn. We saw a grizzly bear after our second stop, but neither of us was able to photograph it because of a passing car traveling at an excessive rate of speed, scaring the heck out of the bear. As we traveled further south, the road improved, and even had yellow stripes separating the lanes—civilization at last (we say this with some regret and trepidation, because it means added traffic, more people, more semis, and fewer animals). We made the turn west towards Stewart, BC, and Hyder, AK; these are sister towns separated only by the Canada/U.S. border. The great views only improved as we saw several hanging glaciers, and one glacier was very close to the highway. Today, we officially changed our minds about the Cassiar Highway; it does live up to its reputation and is very worth driving. We arrived at our RV Park about 2 PM, set up under some large trees, and vacuumed the inside of both the RV and the car. Kay thawed a salmon filet which we grilled and had an early dinner of salmon, rice pilaf, and cole slaw. We then drove to Hyder, AK, for some serious bear watching at Fish Creek, a U.S. Forest Service site some 3 miles out of Hyder, and we were surprised that there was no U.S. Customs station. We were lucky enough to see two bears right away, then saw another come upstream relatively close, all feeding on salmon. When we departed, we drove further down the road and saw another bear, turned around, were driving back to Hyder, and saw two more. This proved to be a very successful bear-watching afternoon. As we drove back into Stewart, BC, we had to go through Canada Customs, but the agent didn’t even check our passports. As a side note, Stewart, BC, is on Pacific Daylight Savings Time, so Hyder, AK, is also on the same time; however, because the Post Office is a U.S. government agency, it has to operate on Alaska time, one hour earlier!

Stewart, BC, and Hyder, AK, Day 2 (Tuesday, September 1, 2009) With some grilled salmon left over from yesterday, we had salmon omelet, hash browns, and English muffins for breakfast—our anniversary breakfast one day early. After clean-up, we drove to the foot of Salmon Glacier, climbing for about 20 miles on what should be considered a 4-wheel drive road. We opted not to drive the remaining 5 miles up a very steep grade to the top of the glacier. After making our way back down, we stopped at the Fish Creek Bear Viewing Area, and didn’t even make it off the fenced-in board walk because a large grizzly was crossing the parking area within a few feet of us. He continued passing, within 10 feet, with a large salmon in his mouth. He did not look at me—the closest human to him, only about 6 feet away—nor did he budge one inch despite all the other on lookers, and one could tell that he was single focused, and was not to be disturbed. He crossed the small creek, went into the woods, and ate the salmon. We waited an hour or so for him to return to the creek or for other bears, but no such luck. On the way back to Stewart, we took photos of the post office at Hyder for our neighbor and friend, Loretta, and stopped at the “Bus” for halibut fish and chips. This is an old bus converted to a kitchen, and seafood is prepared on site; it is rated 5 stars by the Alaska Tourism Board. Today, the lady who runs the place offered fresh halibut, fresh sockeye salmon, and fresh Dungeness crab. Returning to the RV park, Kay did laundry and “toured” Stewart, BC, and I cooked hamburgers for a future meal. The Stewart Visitor Center has free wi-fi, and I was able to read email, discovering a humongous Verizon bill; when we get back in the lower 48, Kay will have a serious talk with Verizon. Since their buyout of Alltel, and the switch over to Verizon on July 11, we’ve have not had a lot of positive service! In the early evening, we returned to Fish Creek in Hyder for more bear watching; no bears, one bald eagle, lots of people.

Our caravan is just about over, two stops, one night each, after tonight. After the caravan, we’ll drive from Prince George, BC, to Icefields Centre, AB, on Friday, September 4, then to Whitefish, MT, on September 5 where we’ll spend 3 nights, have cell phone service and hopefully, internet via our broadband card. After that, we’ll decide on the route home, and will likely detour to Yellowstone National Park for a few days. Depending on the likely route, we have just over 3,000 miles to home in mid-September. Wow!

Kay’s Take Stewart, B.C. has a population of about 500 people and Hyder, AK has a population of 100. There are two gas stations, two small groceries, a few B & Bs, one motel, a couple of restaurants and that’s it. The scenery is gorgeous – mountains, glaciers, Pacific Ocean Portland Canal, blue sky and sunny all two days.

The bear watching is incredible! The people are up on an elevated boardwalk, looking down on the habitat – a creek with returning spawning salmon, birds, eagles, and bears eating and playing. We saw a black bear driving there tonight (Tuesday) who was hugging a utility pole and scratching it’s tummy, I think. He turned his head and looked at us like ‘yeah, I’ve got an itch, so what’. Many of the bear watchers are serious photographers – specialists and professionals too. Be sure to look at the picture of the ‘Bus’ restaurant. What a hoot! Well, the Cassiar redeemed itself on this lower part – but the upper 50 miles is pretty tough. Everybody is glad our caravan is close to ending and we’re also sad at the same time. Lots of good shared memories with many special people.

Our Recommendations for Steward, BC, and Hyder, AK We definitely recommend Fish Creek Bear Viewing Area, and the drive to Salmon Glacier is wrought with spectacular scenery. Our car sits too low to the ground, and we continuously dodged potholes and heavy equiPMent tracks. There are a number of quaint buildings and churches in both Hyder and Stewart worthy of photographing, and a meal at the “Bus” is an absolute must do.

Campground There are few choices for RV parks in the Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK area. We stayed at Rainey Creek in Stewart, and had marginal 30-amp electricity—no water, no sewer, no cable. The campground sits in a rain forest, and sites are surrounded by large moss covered trees, ferns, and mushrooms. The bathrooms were clean, and showers were $1. We would stay here again, but more likely would opt for the smaller Camp Run-A-Muck in Hyder, closer to the bear viewing area.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 16,075.4
Beginning Time: 7:00 AM Pacific DST
Ending Mileage: 16,268.9
Ending Time: 3:30 PM Pacific DST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 193.5
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 6,876.8