We awoke to another stunning blue sky day here in Stewart, the glacier topped mountain in plain view out of our Historic Hotel Bayview window just forced me to smile, it was so awesome to be here and wake up to that.
I took a quick stroll on the main street down three doors to a little bakery for coffee and muffins, there were folks out on the street and inside the bakery; everyone smiled and made small talk about the day. It made me imagine what life would have been like in this very spot 100 years ago, and I decided it would have been no different at all.
After a bit of a lazy morning we packed up and headed down the road to Hyder Alaska, our first entry into this state and the USA on this trip.
Oddly, in this location there is no US customs office as you enter Alaska from Canada; you only need to pass through Canada Customs on the way back. I guess in this insanity of a protectionist US era we are going through, the only way we can understand this lack of a border protection in Stewart / Hyder is knowing the fact that this is the only community in southern Alaska accessible by a continental road system, yet it is on a 90 mile fiord and thus, once you enter Hyder by car, you really can’t go anywhere else in the continental USA.
We wanted to see the little town and the two pubs that are somewhat legendary (you can get Hyderized at the Glacier Inn),
but there really wasn’t any reason to get out of the car at 10:00 am, we weren’t ready to start doing shooters and there wasn’t much else compelling here. The tide was out and we had a good look at the sleepy harbour
but we weren’t ready (and it was too late in the morning) to do the 30 mile drive up to look over the mighty Salmon Glacier (the fifth largest glacier in the world!) We knew, having done the 40 mile drive in to Stewart / Hyder from the Cassiar, that there were many, many glaciers we were going to see on our way out on this glorious morning. So we concluded our quick 15 minute visit to Alaska and met Calley at Canada Customs (aka Checkpoint Charlie)
and headed back through Stewart along the amazing 40 mile drive of Highway 37A back to the Cassiar Highway.
There are in fact 20 hanging glaciers looming over this stretch of road,
undoubtedly the most impressive is the Bear Glacier which you will see about halfway through this drive,
It winds down to the Bear River and at first, and when I said to Linda that I thought this glacier was blue we blamed it on the new blue tinted sunglasses purchased for the trip. Well as it turns out, the Bear Glacier is one of 5 blue glaciers in the world, and it is absolutely stunning to see on a clear blue sky day, with its blue ice peaking through the white snow cover all surrounded by the blue frame of a summer sky.
I have been puzzling about this glacier for a day or so now and wondering, in this seemingly warm summer climate in Stewart, how this glacier stays in tact and flows right down to the water. But once you understand that this area’s average snowfall is 30 feet (360 inches or over 900 cm), you realize there is just a huge base of ice / snow pack that is probably receding / shrinking but will certainly never go away in our lifetime, its kind of amazing to stand out there and watch it with shorts on!
So by the time we got to Meziadin Junction, only another 20 miles, low lying clouds started to roll in and block the beautiful mountain peaks that surround Meziadin Lake. We stopped to fill our gas tank at the Junction and it was so darn cold I had to go into the car to get a sweater to put on. We got back on our voyage up the Cassiar and darn it if 10 minutes later the sun was blazing in my window and I was so hot. I fully appreciated in that moment the saying about weather in the mountains, “if you don’t like it, wait 10 minutes”.
The rest of our day was a mix of sun and rain, (sweater on, sweater off) some beautiful vistas and no less than 4 close encounters with bears
So we had decided a few day prior that we might want to take a break from this road trip after 5 days and do a real Canadian off the grid cabin excursion, with no cell phones or wifi, and just enjoy Northern BC for a few days the way it was meant to be experienced.
So we settled into our little cabin and immediately felt at home and so grateful to be here. Lots of open space, we were the only guests here, peaceful and calm, and it had a badminton net. We barely had unpacked the car before Linda and I poured a beer and started our badminton tournament.
The calmness that only comes with being in a remote property; the quiet save for the sounds of nature, started to fill all of us. Jebo, who has been staying very close to us on this journey, began to explore the property on his own and quickly felt quite at home.
The owners of the property came by to meet us and we had a nice visit, they are a great young couple. They gave us some tips on some of the trails cut through the woods across the street and talked a bit about Canada’s Grand Canyon, which is about 60 km down the dirt gravel road which is Telegraph Creek Road.
We had purchased some steaks with fixins and some red wine. We settled in for a nice meal and a day off to enjoy the peace.
We have no way of communicating for a few days. We’ll be in touch soon!
The Trip so far looks like this, 30 hrs, 2512 km
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