Incredible Scenery and Hyder, Alaska

May 7 - OMG! This is what I’m talking about!

We left Prince George, BC on PH16, a pretty good road but the scenery was much the same for the day. After leaving the urban sprawl of Prince George, we traveled thru rolling hills, winter bare trees, and enormous hayfields, passing beef cattle and houses ranging from little log cabins to comfortable nicely maintained houses. Occasionally, someone was working on their vegetable garden but overall not many people were out and about. Which was understandable since the weather continues to be more fall like than spring.

The Milepost describes this drive as passing through valleys, following the railroad tracks, and with little in between the communities. It reminded me of driving thru Pennsylvania’s rolling farmland but on a bigger scale and with a lot less people.

An interesting sight was the crews using pressure spray machines to clean the salt crust off the Jersey walls and guardrails. Makes sense, wonder if the same is done stateside.
The beetle kill along this route is massive. Whole mountainsides of dead and bare pine trees and it isn’t going to be better. Global warming? Acid rain? Whatever the cause, the destruction is horrible to see.

Another day of overcast sky and little sun. I think I’m missing the sunshine with an urgency like when I quit smoking. But then we got to the town of Smithers, BC and my spirits lifted It is pattern after a Bavarian town with magnificent, towering snow covered peaks reaching into blue sky.

We started seeing snowcapped mountain an hour earlier but had no idea of the number or size of the mountains in this part of BC. Visualize the Sierra mountains meeting the peaks of Colorado Rockies on the west side of PH16 and rolling farmland to the east. Quite impressive. Then we turned off for the night’s campground, the Gitanmaxx Band’s Ksan Campground, in historic Hazelton, BC. No doubt about it, this is the bestest campground we have stayed at in Canada. I don’t think there is a campsite that doesn’t have a jaw-dropping view. The People are so warm and friendly and there is a number of things to do close.

However, tomorrow we aren’t doing a "nearby" thing. Spike Fortier, a fellow RV camper and a Wagonmaster for Alaskan Discovery RV Tours, is here, waiting for his group and told Fred about Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK and we are going!!! More about that adventure later. The sun is still shining but I need to hit the sack.

May 9 - Yesterday was Hyder, AK, a 12 hours/340 miles trip. It was one of the bestest daytrips we have ever taken. I’m going to do a photo album (will post the link in later blog) but here are a few for now.

It’s about 95 miles up Cassiar Highway (PH37) from Kitwanga to the Stewart/Hyder spur (PH37A) which is another 40 miles to town and the scenery only gets better the further north you go. And the number of bears we saw along this stretch of road was amazing.

Route PH37A is beyond description. It will make every route you thought was scenic pale by comparison. At the 15 mile/24km post is the turnout for Bear Glacier but start looking at about 14 miles for the various "hanging glaciers" (defined as "a glacier lying above a cliff or steep mountainside"). It said there are 20 within a few miles of Bear Glacier. (Photo of entrance to this stretch of glaciers.)

One has to drive thru Stewart, BC and a little ways down the Portland Canal to reach Hyder, AK. Portland Canal is actually the a "fjord" defined as "a glaciated valley flooded by the sea to form a long, narrow, steep-walled inlet." Doesn’t this definition alone add to the image of the area. From what earlier, like turn of the 20th century, photos show, land that could be used for building was so limited, the town of Hyder was initially built on pilings in the water! All that is left are a few piles you can see at low tide. By the 1930s, Hyder had been moved from the BC part of the Portland Canal to the land in Alaska.

Hyder has a winter population of about 60. By the time summer rolls around the population will balloon up to 100 people! I think it could be possible that the number of bears wandering thru town might out number the town’s human residents. The centers of community are the Hyder General Store, owned by Wes Loe, and the Sealaska Inn’s bar, owner unknown. If you want to know anything about anyone or whatever, just drop in and ask. You can take a few minutes to scan the goods offered and pick up something to eat.

Hyder, AK is a special place and is said to offer visitors a uniquely Alaskan experience. The town’s gravel roads and a number of special characters (like Barfly, sober for 14 years) enhance Hyder’s ambience. We were identified by some locals as the first visitors of the season. Unfortunately most of the town’s businesses were closed so we couldn’t explore them. The Run-A-Muck campground, still with a foot of snow on the ground, happily announced electric power had just been turned on in anticipation of the first RV caravan arrival in a few days.

What do I think makes Hyder so unique? What other town do you know of has free roaming bears and seaplanes delivering the mail and groceries? We heard a number of stories about the challenges Hyder residents must deal with concerning these furry guys throughout the year. But bears might not be one of the most challenging problems these unique people deal with on a regular bases. There is determining the time. Hyder is located in Alaska so, technically, it’s in the Alaska time zone but only the Post Office observes this time while the towns’s citizens use BC time which is one hour earlier. We were in town when a seaplane returned the town’s five high school seniors from their prom in Ketchikan. Imagine a senior class of five! Imagine the challenge of dating! (Photo of last seaplane of the day. This one had the mail and supplies for General Store. Earlier plane brought back Prom goers.)

Speaking of the Post Office, another challenge is getting mail. It is delivered twice a week, weather permitting, by seaplane. Imagine the challenge of trying to convince your creditor that the mail was held up because the seaplane couldn’t land. (We were told in 2005 mail wasn’t delivered until two days after Christmas and that was18 days after the last delivery.) And did I mention groceries are also brought in on the seaplane? And ALL your public services, such as electric, phone, internet, etc, comes from Canada. So how do you convince someone you really do live in Alaska when everything has a Canadian address. Oh, the challenges to be Hyderized.

Down the road from Hyder are two MUST DO activities for any summer visitors. We were, I’m sorry to say, too early to enjoy either fully. These must dos are the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Platform (a permit required and can be purchases at several Hyder businesses) and Salmon Glacier, 5th largest glacier in North American. We were able to explore the Observation Platform without the bears but the route to Salmon Glacier was still closed by snow.

It was a very long day but one I am so happy we did it. I warned you in the last blog this would be a lengthy entry. And I left a ton out! If you have any questions or would like to hear more, just email me at suzid@forestcamping.com

Tomorrow we head for Prince Rupert and the next day the ferry and Ketchikan. So exciting!!!

[connection too flakey to upload tonight - will try in am - problem may frustrate adding pictures (darn!!!) but album will have more]