On August 4 and 5, Days 44 and 45, we drove to Teslin Lake and Watson Lake for one night stays in each place. We stayed at each of these places on our way to Alaska way back in June.
In Watson Lake the tour group played bingo and John and I won 5 times! We ended the evening with a nice collection of travel souvenirs.
The next day, August 6, we drove 197 miles to Iskut, BC.
On the way we stopped at Cassiar Mountain Jade Store in Jade City, BC. About 90% of the jade in the world is from the Cassiar Mountains in BC. The Bunce family has been mining nephrite jade for over 30 years. The reality TV series Jade Fever documents the mining efforts of the family. We had a good time shopping and drinking some of their free coffee!
Back on the road to Iskut...
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| Road was hilly, winding, dusty, and smoky! |
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| Smoky from forest fires |
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| Helicopter flying over forest fires |
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| Unpaved, dusty road |
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| Narrow bridge |
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| Horses on the road wearing bear bells to scare bears away |
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| Dark skies from the smoke |
That night we stayed at Mountain Shadow RV Park. It was beautifully nestled between mountains with a lake at one end.
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| Beautiful campground! |
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| We walked to the lake with some friends from the tour |
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| The forest fire added color to the evening sky |
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| Ash from the forest fire was raining down on us! |
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| The smoke turned the sky very dark |
The campground owners told us there were 3 forest fires in the area. They said the closest one was 100 miles but not moving in our direction. We went to bed that night hoping it did not change direction!
Day 47, August 7, we drove 197 miles to Hyder, AK.
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| Drove on narrow wooden bridges... |
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| And narrow truss bridges |
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| Often on the tour we passed cyclists loaded down with supplies, sometimes pulling a little trailer |
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| Stopped to admire Bear Glacier |
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| Areas of past rock slides down the mountain |
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| Very fast moving glacial river |
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| Wall of Tears named for the many waterfalls on the mountain |
Hyder is Alaska's easternmost town with a population of approximately 90. To get to it you have to drive through Stewart, BC. There is no US Customs to get into Hyder but you do have to go through customs every time you go to into Canada. Hyder is cut off from the rest of Alaska by wilderness and they get supplies and mail twice a week by plane from Ketchikan, weather permitting. I found an interesting New York Times article about Hyder that is worth reading because Hyder is so unique:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/us/canada-alaska-hyder-stewart-british-columbia.html
One tourist attraction in Hyder is watching bears eat salmon during the salmon run at the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site. Both grizzly and black bears have been observed eating fish at the creek. Visitors can watch wildlife from the safety of an elevated boardwalk. We spent several hours there but did not see any bears...
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| There was also a gated boardwalk through most of the parking lot for safety. |
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| Salmon splashing in the creek |
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| Looking for (but not seeing any) bears! |
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| We saw a beaver and an otter family swimming in this pond... |
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| And we saw a beautiful eagle above the creek |
Earlier in the day we drove back in Stewart to buy groceries and do a little sightseeing. There is a 1/2 mile out and back estuary boardwalk that begins near the Stewart visitor information center and goes out across the tidal flats at the head of Portland Canal. We enjoyed the walk but did not see any birds.
Tomorrow we drive out to see Salmon Glacier...
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