To Meziadin Provincial Park and Hyder Alaska

 

Our First stop after leaving the US/Canada border was a pull out overlooking the Fraser River along the Cariboo Highway. Not sure exactly where we were but the view was beautiful, and it was quiet except for an occasional train along the river below us. Probably the worst of it was the Mosquitoes. There were more inside than out, I’m sure.

FRASER RIVER AND TRAIN TRACKS BELOW US

We refueled in Prince George. It was very tight getting into the HUSKY fueling station on Range Road, but after two attempts we made it. Diesel was $133.9 per Liter.

Our next stop was Houston, at the Visitor Center parking lot. I snapped a picture of the Worlds Largest Fly Fishing Rod while Mark ran across the street to pick up an A&W Burger for me ~ I get the munchies on road trips.

The fly rod is 60 feet long with a 21 inch Skykomish Sunrise fly at the end of the line. Houston was a Tie Cutting center during the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1912. The town was named for a Prince Rupert newspaperman, John Houston, former mayor of Ft Nelson, BC. During the 1940s and 1950s Logging supported the local economy. Forest Products were then and now one of the main supports of this community along with mining.

The AW burger was Deeelish by the way. We continued our trek along the Yellowhead Highway 16, the end of our driving day was in Smithers BC. Our sources said that we could park for the night alongside the Community Hockey Rink and behind the Visitor Center. It was accurate, and the spot was perfect. In the morning we filled with fresh water and were able to use the Visitor Center RV dump to take care of that issue, no charge.

The town of Smithers has a backdrop of some beautiful and very tall mountains. They raise directly above the city with Hudson Bay Mt being a popular ski area in winter elevation of 8700 feet. It towers directly over the town below which sits at 1636 ft.

We “acquired” a large bullseye in our windshield the day before from an oncoming truck, so after fueling up in Smithers, we made our way to a local Glass Repair Shop to have it repaired. Unfortunately, it was out of business so down the road we went. We carry windshield repair kits so we will attempt to repair it ourselves.  Our sites are set on Meziadin Provincial Park near the junction of the Cassier Highway and Highway 37A leading to Stewart and Hyder.

We made it here at Meziadin Park early enough to snag a beautiful spot along the lake. We booked in for two nights so we might have time to explore the surrounding areas of Stewart BC and Hyder, Alaska. It’s $22.00 per night here for a spot only feet from this beautiful and huge lake. It’s known for its excellent fishing of rainbow trout, mountain whitefish, and Dolly Varden. Four species of salmon spawn in the lake. This is 1 of only three areas in the province where salmon spawn in a bays and inlets of a lake.

STEWART/HYDER –  A worthwhile Side Trip

Highway 37A two-lane road goes West from the Meziadin Junction about 40 miles. The drive is beautiful as it winds its way through Bear Creek Canyon. The white threads of many waterfalls were visible even above the ice dams in the ravines. They call it the “wall of tears.” A few of the waterfalls were spectacular, especially in the Avalanche areas. There was evidence of active avalanches even this late in the season.

This route takes you past over 20 glacier formations overlooking the highway. The most significant being Bear Glacier. Massive as it is, it takes its place in the role of shrinking glaciers. In 1972 it reached entirely across to the road. Toward the top, you could easily see the giant waves of aqua blue ice frozen but no doubt is making its way slowly down toward the lake. The aqua and white ice framed by the black earth and the very bright green trees is mother nature’s painting for us all to enjoy in awe.

 

Off We go to Hyder.

We are feeling lucky today because we see the sunshine through the clouds. Did you know that Hyder receives about 960 hours of sunlight a year? That’s roughly 40 + days a year.  Not a place I could survive.   Both Stewart and Hyder are literally at the end of the road. From here the Portland Canal begins its 90-mile arm out to the Hecate Strait. This fiord is the dividing line between British Columbia and the fragmented parts of Alaska. This fiord is the fourth largest in the world. The population of Stewart is about 500 and Hyder. Quite a contrast to the 10,000’s in the 1920’s.

We are Early in the season and knowing that the famous Bear Creek would be void of Bear this time of year we chose to take this trip anyway. Such incredible landscapes and mountains and dip into Alaska this early on our route made it a fun side trip. Besides, we got to cross the border and then back into Canada again with much less stress being in the Jeep.

The two sleepy (at this time of year) towns of Stewart BC and Hyder Alaska have not woken up from their longs winters nap yet. Most establishments were closed however signs in the windows indicated they would be open soon. We enjoyed our bag lunch out at the end of the pier after our trek up to Salmon Glacier.

The General Store and the Gallery Gift store were open, and they were happy to see us pop in. I bought postcards, and we went directly to the Hyder Post Office to mail them to my VIPS. The post office is unique and worth a photo.

After a brief stop at the Bear Creek overlook, we took off to the Salmon Glacier. At the time of this writing, the road was indeed full of potholes as were described in some of the brochures. Lots of snow still along and In the road, as we made our way toward the glacier. It appears they don’t plow this road but instead let the snow melt naturally. You can stand at the “toe” of this glacier.

Good Thing We have a High profile 4 x 4, we encountered many snow areas along this unmaintained road.

The Border crossing back into Canada was uneventful. Just the expected Passport requests and the same questions about Firearms that we had at Abbotsford. They didn’t care about Lily’s papers so away we went. The border patrol officer’s name was Dove. No US Border Office heading into Hyder, AK, which gives you a feeling that this is a simple border crossing.
I got the feeling, though, if we were minus passports, it could be a tricky situation going back into Canada… so don’t go without proper documentation.

By the way, our cell and data service, both AT&T and Verizon worked in 3G and LTE in these towns but not more than 1/2 mile out of town.

The Bald Eagles were feeding in the swampy areas beyond the harbor, and it was fun to watch them teach their young to fish. There seemed to be no end of minnows for these beauties to get their fill.

Tomorrow we will head to Watson Creek. It’s about 350 miles so that will be a long day tomorrow if we make it that far.