Alaskan Adventure: Days 86 & 87. We stayed 2 nights in the town of Stewart, British Columbia. Stewart is a small Canadian town with a population of about 500. We stayed at the “Bear River RV Park.” Stewart and Hyder are both located in beautiful river valleys between very steep mountains.
Until 1972 there were no roads to Stewart. Access was by sea or by air only. Today there is a 37 mile “spur” road called “The Glacier Highway” or “37A” that splits off from the “Stewart-Cassier Highway.” I have a hard time understanding how the “Stewart-Cassier Highway 37” does not actually go to Stewart… but then it doesn’t go to Cassier either. We left Dease Lake early in the morning for the drive to Stewart which was a long 250 miles and 8 hours but with beautiful scenery. The Cassier Highway is not a fast road. It’s a beautiful drive but the road is not as developed as the more popular Alaskan Highway. More sharp curves and mountain grades. It doesn’t have wide cleared edges and has even fewer towns and gas stations.
On the drive: Crossing the Stikine River on the Stewart-Cassier Highway. The Stikine (or Stikeen) River was an alternative route to the 1898 Yukon gold rush. That alternate route started at the mouth of the Stikine River where it enters the Pacific Ocean at Wrangell, Alaska.
What qualifies as a Highway is sometimes pretty minimal. Be sure to notice the itty bitty red “SLOW” sign there right at the edge of the pavement a few feet before the pavement ends…
Notifications of changing road conditions, if provided at all, were often obtuse… just a hint to help out.
On the 37A road into Stewart we passed the brilliant blue toe of “Bear Glacier”.
View of the surrounding mountains from our campground in Stewart.
The boundary between Canada and the US runs 70 miles up the Portland Canal (another natural fjord similar to the Lynn Canal) then breaks over at Hyder to follow the mountain peaks. The little Alaskan town of Hyder is located at the south tip of land between the Salmon River (which originates at Salmon Glacier and ends at Hyder, AK), and the Bear River (originating at Bear Glacier and ending at Stewart, BC).
While in Stewart, British Columbia – we visited Hyder, Alaska – which is only 2 miles away. No US passport is required to cross the border from Stewart to Hyder; but you can’t get out of Hyder back into Canada without a passport. We did not go there but there is another Canadian town of Premier, British Columbia that you can only get to by driving through Hyder, Alaska. Premier is notable for being in Canada, but accessible only through a portion of the United States that is accessible only from Canada. Things are just very different in these parts.
We knew we were getting close to the end of our Alaska trip. Hyder, Alaska is a popular destination for people who want to say they’ve “been to Alaska” but don’t want to drive the length of the Alaskan Highway. It’s the closest town you can drive to in Alaska from the lower 48 States (it’s about 1,000 miles from Washington State). Hyder is a very small, very isolated town. 50-60 people live there year-round. There is no US border control because there is only one (dirt) road into Hyder. The road only goes to a glacier (Salmon Glacier), a gold mine, and the Canadian town of Premier before you turn around and come back through Hyder and the Canadian border crossing at Stewart.
There is only one street into Hyder, it’s dirt; this is it. The pavement ends at the border.
Google Maps shot of the Town of Hyder.
Our first goal was to find “The Bus” where we hoped to get lunch. The Bus was recommended as the best fresh halibut fish-n-chips in Alaska so we were eager to try it out.
We were a little disappointed to find The Bus down a pothole filled dirt road. There was a sign saying open at 12:00 and we were early but doubted it would ever open…
Roadside Hyder, Barbie Van…
This was the first bear we saw the morning we drove into Hyder. Just ambling along crossing the road near the Post Office and walking away licking his chops.
We visited the “Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site” where an elevated wooden boardwalk runs along a shallow creek. Chum Salmon and Pink Salmon come here to spawn. The salmon attract bears and bald eagles. We did not see any bears here in the morning but did when we came back again in the evening.
Fireweed. An edible plant and we were told it makes the best honey.
Fish Creek at the Wildlife Observation Site.
Lots of Bald Eagles fishing in the river.
And hanging out in the trees along the river.
A beautiful river valley surrounded by snow capped mountains. It was getting to be late summer so most of the snow has melted.
Another view of the river and mountains near Hyder.
Far away shot of a bear with a big salmon.
There was a place to pull off along the road and walk through some brush to the river. I did that while Becky waited in the car. There were too many trees to get a good picture so I was about to walk back when there was a splash below. This grizzly bear had been right below me. Oblivious me had no idea he was there. Fortunately he was hunting for salmon instead of a stupid tourist.
My, what big paws (and claws) you have…
My heart was beating pretty fast but I stayed to get some more pictures of a wild bear. An exciting experience. That evening I watched another bear climb up a steep bank out after swimming a deep river and realized he could have gotten to me much faster than I could have gotten back to the car.
After that excitement we returned (through Canada checkpoint) to Stewart to see the town and the Visitors Center. We met up with Mike and Amy and returned to The Bus for lunch.
The Bus is abandoned now but the adjacent shed still serves up lunch to hungry visitors. One lady runs the whole thing so it is a slow process but sweetly personal. Her husband does the fishing every day and she does the cooking. He chatted with people about life in Hyder while we waited. He noted that last winter Hyder received 22 FEET of snow and several buildings collapsed. Then the spring melt and glacier outwash flooded away lots of stuff including most of the wooden boardwalk at the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site. That is a big problem because it reduced tourism to Hyder which they are so dependent on.
This is a clip from the internet of The Bus a few years ago. Hard times in a harsh place.
A last look at The Bus after nearly everyone had left. Sort of like a Sonic Drive-In but way more remote.
Another clip from the internet. We did not drive up to Salmon Glacier. Looks like it would have been awesome.
In the evening, our group had a friendly pitch-in dinner of biscuits-n-gravy at the campground in Stewart. We made some crock-pot cinnamon monkey-bread dessert.
After dinner, we went back into Hyder and back to the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site in the evening. We were about to give up and leave when Amy whispered “there’s one right over there”. It was a misty/foggy evening and I am sure I would not have spotted this stealthy bear sneaking up in the grass.
Mr. Bear decided there were too many people watching from the boardwalk so decided to swim across the creek.
The bear was a surprisingly good swimmer, it was even more impressive to see him heave himself straight up the river bank on the other side.
Hyder is known for having lots of bears hanging around, especially when the salmon are running up the river.
Salmon fishing, laid-back bear style. iPhone video by Joe & Lori.
A fat bear. iPhone video by Joe & Lori.
Leaving Stewart in the morning took us past the toe of Bear Glacier again. The “spur” road 37A was one of our “top 10” most beautiful drives of the trip
