Cassiar Hwy, Stewart and Hyder...Bears and Glaciers

I have strived mightily in this blog to keep the educational and intellectual content extremely high. In that context, I give you the following necessary information:
In Canada, at least western Canada, Hostess Ding Dongs (happily back in production) are called: "King Dons".

Mmmm, good!

The Cassiar Hwy heads south from Watson Lake to a main east/west highway #16. It's a distance of about 450 miles. It's more like a county road than a highway. It is a little narrower and the northern half doesn't have much for shoulders. My speed was usually 45 to 50. But it is a nice drive and scenic in that you are in woods almost the entire way. The Cassiar is a less traveled route and there was little traffic.

The north 50 miles was caught in a massive forest fire in 2010. Most of the trees are skinny black spruce. The fire burned off the branches and burned the bark but left all of the blackened trunks standing. There are millions of standing black tree trunks.

The good thing about a forest fire is that the new growth is more succulent and provides good food for bears, moose and other critters. Part of the cycle of life of a forest.

Speaking of bears, I probably saw a dozen along the Cassiar Hwy. All mothers and cubs. (Allie, these were all just outside my car.)

One night I camped at a beautiful little campground on Boya Lake. This was the view out the back edge of my campsite.

             This picture does not show it well, but parts of the lake were a deep emerald green.

 

At the south end of the Cassiar I took a spur road to the small communities of Stewart and Hyder. Stewart is in British Columbia. Hyder is in Alaska. The two towns are just a couple of miles apart. Driving to Hyder there is no need to go through US Customs because there is no where to go. Going back to Stewart you have to go through Canadian Customs.

 

The original home of D J Rainey built in 1898. His home site is pretty much the location of present day Stewart.

 

Originally a branch of the Bank of Montreal. Later it was a Sears store.

Main street, 5th Avenue, Stewart

Originally the Bay View Hotel built in 1925

Built in 1928 as a "transfer" business-hauling goods.

 The "Kate Ryan" building. Built in 1920 for the "real" Klondike Kate, Ms Ryan.

Now it is the "Toaster Museum Café".

 

The "Gunnanoot Place". A "house of ill repute" in the 1930s. I had to shoot into the sun so this picture doesn't show the bright yellow and orange colors.

 

The Empress Hotel built by a railway in 1936 for $100,000.00. It's for sale now but needs a LOT of work.

 

 

The fire hall built in 1910.

 

I talked to the lady in the Visitors Center. She and her husband moved to Stewart in the mid-70s so he could work in the mines (copper and gold). She told me that Stewart was quite an active community because it is out here all by itself at the end of the road (except for Hyder). But when the mines mostly closed, a lot of Stewart closed also. There was one mine open until this year. It closed, at least temporarily, for lack of financing.

 

Stewart is at the end of an estuary. The town has built a long boardwalk into the estuary for visitors.

 

Stewart is surrounded by mountains.

 

 

And then there is Hyder. I said that Stewart is at the end of the road. Well, Hyder is a few blocks past the end of the road.

 

I had to advertise for Coca Cola.

An old Greek Orthodoxy Church. No longer in use.

 

The two towns are far less visited by tourists and give you more of a feeling of the real towns in rural Alaska/Yukon/BC.

 

So why visit Hyder? Two reasons. Just on the other side of Hyder is the Tongass NP. They have constructed a bear viewing area along a stream where the salmon lay their eggs and die. This is a major bear feeding area. (I only caught the backside of one bear disappearing into the woods when I was there.) There were hundreds of dead salmon in the creek. There were still live salmon also laying their eggs.

 

 

 

The other reason to drive through Hyder is the Salmon Glacier. There was a nice paved road to the bear viewing area but once you got past that it was nothing but a rough wash board pot hole gravel road for 15-20 miles. All straight up the side of a mountain with no guard rails--just looking down the side of the mountain below you.

As you drive up you see the end of the glacier which has been the usual view on this trip.

But once you get to the top,

the view of the main body of the glacier is spectacular!

 

I know this looks fake, like I was standing in front of a picture of the glacier, but I was really there.

 

                                      

 

Saturday I left Stewart. At the end of the Cassiar Hwy you get on Hwy 16 which is called the "Yellowhead Highway". I have no idea why it is called that. I drove for 11 hours to reach Prince George. It was a day to put in miles. I don't have much to report. I did stop in Gitanyow which is a First Nation community known for their totem poles.



 





    





 

 



 

My blogs will be less frequent now. I am just working my way home. I don't know what I'll find. So stop back once in awhile but the "exciting" days of Yukon/Alaska are behind me. Time to get back home.