Alaska Tour Days 48-50

On our second day in Hyder, AK, we drove 10 miles from the campground to take the self-guided auto tour of Salmon Glacier which is just on the Canadian side of the border.  The glacier is notable for its major potential as a natural hazard.  Summit Lake is located at the northern end of the glacier and every year around mid-July the lake breaks an ice-dam and then flows under the Salmon Glacier into the Salmon River.  This causes the river to rise approximately 4-5 ft for several days.

There were many scenic pullouts on the road providing opportunities to take in the beautiful scenery.  Unfortunately, pictures hardly ever capture the real beauty of nature.  Here are pictures from our drive...

Dusty, winding road

Narrow, up and down

View of road we just drove on

First peek of Salmon Glacier

Back on winding road.  No guardrails, with steep drop-offs!

The blue of the ice is beautiful!

We made it!

Spectacular!

We continued driving past the glacier to an abandoned mine.  We didn't go past the mine because this section of road was considerably worse than the glacier road.  It was filled with potholes and was very bumpy.

Many waterfalls along the way

The entrance to the mine--very dark and spooky in there!

On Day 49 we drove 211 miles to Smithers, BC.

After setting up for the night, we took some time to visit Smithers' alpine-themed downtown.  They had shops offering everything from skis to fashion.  The had a few restaurants too.  We decided to have dinner and a cold beer at Alpenhorn Bistro.  It was a nice place to stretch our legs after our drive.

The food was delicious...

and the beer was cold!

Friday, August 10, was Day 50 of the tour.  We drove 232 miles to Prince George, BC.  Most of the drive was hazy from forest fire smoke.

That evening the tour hosted dinner at a local restaurant where we took turns talking about our favorite memories of the trip.  We all hugged goodbye after dinner but when we returned to the RV park we all sat in a large circle one last time enjoying the company of our fellow travelers.

We had a wonderful time on the tour.  We travelled approximately 5,200 miles and saw things that 3 years ago we never thought we'd see--beautiful mountains, rivers, streams and lakes, glaciers, bears, bison, elk, whales, porpoises, sea lions and more.  And I still can't believe we flew on a 6-passenger plane all the way up to Barrow, Alaska and I'll never forget walking on  Matanuska Glacier!

A couple of interesting of interesting things about Canada and Alaska...

British Columbia has a fire season during the summer.  2017 was a record breaking year for forest fires in BC but 2018 now holds the record.  As of August 20, 2018 had a total of 1,925 fires that had burned 1,512,590 acres.  Almost all forest fires are started by lightening and there are still many that are not under control. Driving through smoke was a new experience for us.  As we continue on our travels from Canada to Washington we hope the fires stay away from the roads.

The tour took us over 90% of Alaskan roads and 80% of Yukon roads.  I lost my notes so I'm going on memory for the percentages but I think they're close.  This included paved roads and the dusty,  gravely roads. Many of them are dusty, rocky and rough.  In Yukon they alert you to extra rough road sections by placing orange flags on the side of the road.  The roughest patches are caused by frost in the frigid winters warping the pavement.

We met a lot of nice people on the tour and made many new friends.  We hope our paths cross often on our travels.

Now, back to "normal" life...

Alaska Tour Days 44-47

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...

Road was hilly, winding, dusty, and smoky!

Smoky from forest fires

Helicopter flying over forest fires

Unpaved, dusty road

Narrow bridge

Horses on the road wearing bear bells to scare bears away

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.

Beautiful campground!

We walked to the lake with some friends from the tour

The forest fire added color to the evening sky

Ash from the forest fire was raining down on us!

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.

Drove on narrow wooden bridges...

And narrow truss bridges

Often on the tour we passed cyclists loaded down with supplies, sometimes pulling a little trailer

Stopped to admire Bear Glacier

Areas of past rock slides down the mountain

Very fast moving glacial river

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...

There was also a gated boardwalk through most of the parking lot for safety.

Salmon splashing in the creek

Looking for (but not seeing any) bears!

We saw a beaver and an otter family swimming in this pond...

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...