Stewart, British Columbia August 11, 2013

Today we drove from Jade City to Stewart. The ride down the Cassiar Highway was some of the most beautiful scenery we have seen since coming to Canada or Alaska. Maybe the nice sunshiny day helped. We both think the scenery on this part of the highway more than made up for the first 50 rough, burned out miles. There were many clear picturesque lakes along the way. One with a cabin with a boat dock reminded me of one of Thomas Kinkaid’s paintings.

The road generally was in good shape, with only a few places with smooth gravel. Most of the time, we could go the speed limit, with the exception of all the photo stops.

We were going into the campground in Hyder, Alaska, but when we stopped at the Visitor Center in Stewart, they told us that a caravan had gone through and had taken most of the camp spaces in Camp Run A Muck in Hyder (it is the only campground there). She told us that the city owned campground in Stewart had spaces, so we went there. We got electrical and could fill our water on the way in and on the way out. The senior price was $24.15 per night and we are staying here 2 nights.

After we got settled in, we drove to Hyder to the bear viewing walkway. When we were almost there we saw 2 Grizzly Bears in the road. After we got a few pictures, the bears went into the woods. We went to the boardwalk just in time for the 2 bears to come out of the woods into the river, so Cindy was able to get a lot more photos. We were able to walk up the board walk as the bears went up stream. The reason we went to Hyder and Stewart was to see the bears, so we were well rewarded. The bears are supposed to be after the salmon, which the stream seems full of, but they were more interested in eating berries. I asked one of the Park Rangers about it, and he said that the type of salmon that are here now are smaller than the other breeds, and that the bears have a harder time catching them, so when this type salmon are here, the bears eat more berries.

After the bear and salmon watching was over, we went back to Stewart. In order to get there we had to go through Canadian Customs. The customs agent looked at our license plate and asked us where we lived. I told him near Salt Lake City. He then asked me if we had any guns with us. When I told him no, he said have a good evening and handed back our passports. There is no US customs to go to Hyder.

After seeing the RV Park in Hyder and the one in Stewart where we are staying, we are glad we are in Stewart. It looked like the place in Hyder is a parking lot with every RV in it they could possibly fit, while the one we are in is like we are out in the woods. Cindy and I both like this RV Park better.

Just a note in passing, this evening it was dark by 8:30, something we are not used to. Thanks for visiting.

I’m afraid the pictures will have to wait until I get better internet.