Side Trip

Hyder is the easternmost town in Alaska accessible via road through Stewart BC.  Stewart, British Columbia, is 2 miles away by road via International Street. No other roads connect Hyder with the rest of Alaska. A Canada Border Services Agency customs post is located 100 yards from the town and used by all visitors and residents as it is the only road out of Hyder.

Gold and silver mining dominated the early economy. Hyder, Alaska boomed with the discovery of rich silver veins in 1918. Hyder became an access and supply point for the mines, while Stewart served as the port for Canadian mining activity, which was centred on the town of Premier, 14 miles past Hyder.  In the late 1950s, Granduc Mining Co. near Premier drove the world's largest one-end tunnel 11 miles to the Leduc Copper ore body. A large avalanche killed 28 men on February 18, 1965 when a snow slide hit the mine camp. Although this community has suffered from loss it bounced back as mining is again an active endeavor.

Fourteen miles north of Hyder, beyond where the pavement ends, is where the Grand Duc mine and Salmon Glacier are located.  The unpaved portion is washboard and you have to dodge some potholes, but clearance is not a problem. This is the only place in the Western Hemisphere where you can drive to a point above a massive glacier and look down on it. It's actually in BC, Canada, but you have to drive from Hyder, AK, to get there.

We made the drive from Hyder to the Gran Duc mine in the jeep.  The glacial views are truly spectacular as you progress up the mountain.  Eventually, you get high enough that you can look down on the moraine and up to the top. It is almost as good as flying over a glacier like Kathy did in the Alaskan interior.  The debris field represented by the moraine is very well defined and has a lot of character. It took us eight hours up and back as we kept stopping to view the different scenery. There is a lot more to see than just the Salmon Glacier, as there are several other smaller glaciers and numerous waterfalls.

 

Back towards town is the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site.  Fish creek bear watching area is on Fish Creek, a spawning ground for some of the world's largest chum salmon, and is therefore very popular with the local bear.  We paid our entrance fee and watched the salmon swim and many die as this was the end of their journey after laying their eggs.  The only bear we saw here was one crossing the road before as we drove into the parking area.

We enjoyed shopping at the Boundary Gifts shop that sold homemade fudge and soaps. Behind the counter, Joy noticed several beautiful dulcimers.  The owner told us how her deceased husband had an ear for wood and how these dulcimers were made.  He could knock on trees and identify if the pitch and tone were good enough for instruments.  He had even sold trees to Martin guitars.  She played a few tunes for us and the moment was truly magical.

We also had dinner at a bar in Stewart.  The decor was interesting enough to to note.  The walls were covered with both Canadian, US, and other foreign currency, some with personal notes.  Also there is a rug with President Kennedy's picture on it hung on the wall.  The waitress was too busy to ask questions so we note it here for you to help us understand these choices.

We stayed at the Bear River RV park.  It was clean but the showers were pay showers and the wi-fi cost money after the first 1 mb.  We couldn't even check our email.  Besides we were ready to get back home to the lower forty-eight.

Back Through BC

Hwy 16 eastward from the Cassiar Hwy quickly gave indication that we were back in civilization by forcing us to share the road with speeders, semi-trucks, and unfriendly drivers.  Fortunately, the highway slowly evolved into farmland slopes, rivers with salmon and bear and humans fishing for those salmon. We never realized how much fishing is available in BC so far inland.

Trucks hauling timber to lumber mills is the number one source of the BC economy, with mining being a close second.  Communities appeared to support each other as Mennonite church members stood with striking school teachers.  Many small BC communities still hadn't gone back to school in mid September because of the teacher strike.   The small farms and ranches were preparing for winter as farmers covered hay bales and removed crops from their fields.

Our journey northward and now southward had been guided by the popular reference guide, The Milepost.  However, this book failed to represent hwy 16 adequately.  We looked for rest areas, as they were not cited in the book.  The kilometer posts were not numbered in alignment with real signposts and even the craziest math didn't help us figure out where the hell we were.  The book also excluded the native villages along the route entirely.

The highway itself is in good to excellent shape - especially when compared to the widened goat trails of the Yukon, but compared to roads of the US we still found them lacking basic amenities that would help us and others.  Often, there were no signs indicating rest areas or turn outs until we were on top of them.  Don't know if you've ever tried to stop a 31 ft fully loaded motor home towing a Jeep on a dime - but trust us, it doesn't happen.  

Being back in farmland made the drive somewhat boring without mountain views but it had been a while since we had seen horses, cattle, sheep, lamas, goats, and pigs so we enjoyed seeing familiar mammals again. As we drove east, the mountains disappeared from our line of sight several times but the calm lakes and streams allowed for some good photo opportunities.  Some communities had local radios and tv stations but we opted to listen to free Sirius XM radio during their fall promotion.  As we neared Prince George, the road widened and traffic increased.  City buses and traffic lights, a casino and a health food store told us that this was almost a real "city."  We turned south onto the Caribou highway just before crossing the city limits.

We looked for the community called Cinema, a location with a store and free camping.  Somehow we missed it and ended up at Canyon Creek RV park.  The park's beautiful setting, friendly owners, and a nature trail were nice but the facilities were old and the noise from the highway was constant.

We departed late the next day and got on the road to find groceries in Quesnel.  After driving in circles around downtown trying to find a store whose parking lot was large enough for us, we settled on a store near Wal-mart.  We used our own shopping bags was our cart in the store and this apparently became an issue during checkout as we had used our own shopping bag instead of a cart. The crotchety cashier was not certain we had emptied our bag and insisted on looking in both bags twice to ensure we had emptied them.  Accused of shoplifting by a rude Canadian!  Did we really look like we were trying to steal a block of cheese?  By this time we had had our fill of Canada and couldn't wait to get back to the good ol' US of A - faults and all.

A little farther down the road we stopped at Gold Trail RV park.  It advertised itself as an Escapees Club resort but trust us, this was no resort!  When Joy confronted the manager about the condition of the restroom and the fact that the campground was not currently an Escapees Club, he was rude and actually sexually harassed her by calling her a bitch.  He justified his behavior as only joking but is an absolute moron! He provided yet another reason we aren't too fond of our neighbors to the north.  Luckily, this would be our last night in Canada and we were looking forward to crossing into Washington and seeing friends and family.

PC to BC via Alberta

Pincher Creek to Sundre

Apparently we lost a day somewhere on the road as Kathy thought it was Wednesday the 18th on Thursday the 19th. We drove from Pincher Creek, Alberta to Sundre, Alberta. We left late because Joy went into town to do the laundry and to give our eternal friend, rain, a chance to go away. When she arrived at the laundromat she realized the washing machines did not take US coins so her 20 pounds of quarters, etc that she had drug with her were worthless.  Thank goodness there was a Canadian couple in the laundromat who agreed to exchange the US money for Canadian money.  After Joy exchanged the $10 of quarters she realized the machines actually took two loonies and two quarters, the equivalent of $2.50 US dollars.  So, a second exchange took place and Joy now had the requisite amount of loonies and quarters.  The kind gentleman at the laundromat was extremely talkative and reminded Joy of someone she knew long ago in Corpus Christi Texas.

The Canadian Loonie

While Joy finished the wash, Kathy prepared the RV for yet another journey. When she was nearly ready to go she decided to go and take a shower at the bath house.  She left the RV unlocked but took the keys with her.  When she returned, the door was lucked.  It finally happened - Frances, the traveling poodle, had locked the RV by jumping into the cab and using her front legs to look out the window (and step on the lock button!)  The mule deer who had been hanging around since we arrived thought the whole thing was quite amusing.

We have learned to fill our fresh water tank whenever we are able so that no matter where we end up parking for the night we'll have water.  We did so today, too.  A little discussion about directions came up but as always we got back on track and before long we were northbound on highway 22.  The weather was still a little dreary.  Road signs warned of steep grades, strange looking deer, school buses, berry picking and moose.

We decided to skip sandwiches for lunch and sought out a local dive instead. The Longview Hotel was the perfect choice!  Obviously any place called Longview must have cattle, which made Kathy a little homesick. She ordered chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy. Joy ate a cordon bleu chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries.  Neither was good enough to return for seconds but they sure hit the spot at the time.

As had been the case the last few days, the rain began to fall harder as we got closer to our destination. Miraculously, by the time we got to our site the rain had stopped.  We uncovered the bicycles.  The cover is not in as good of shape as when we left, but Joy's sewing and duct tape is holding it together well enough to keep the bikes mostly dry.

We considered staying in Sundre two nights but the rodeo was heading to town so we could only get a site for one night.  We were remarked how grateful we were that we rolled in when we did and not a night later.

Sundre to Valleyview

The drive from Sundre to Valleyview was a quiet peaceful one for the most part. We started the day by cleaning the RV, which meant a good vacuum. Joy again taped up the bike cover and stored it for later if necessary. The weather was perfect for coffee al fresco with the puppies and we had a cup on the picnic table before tearing down.

The green foothills and signs threatening of elk, deer, and moose left us somewhat disheartened since we only saw two deer along the road. Snacks and lunch were quick breaks from driving for Kathy and but we wanted to power on since we had dry weather. We decided to push it hard and see how much ground could be covered and didn't stop until after 306 miles.  To some of you that may not seem like much, but we typically average 55 mph and towing a jeep up and down mountains can get a bit tiring.

Of course, what would a day on trip be if we didn't hit rain?? We once again drove through a pretty good storm but it was short-lived and we were thankful it go some of the dust off the RV and Jeep. We went ahead and paid for two nights so we could have some down time. The RV park was nestled in the woods and was described as being "restful and quiet."  Indeed, it was.

The next morning, we discovered army worms invading. They were climbing everything looking for food and there were so many of them it looked as if the grass was alive and crawling. Kathy remarked that she hoped no one was tripping on acid or else we might all be in trouble.

We decided to explore downtown Valleyview, which included a bowling alley, a garage sale, clothing stores, and a dollar store.  Kathy bought a new wallet (the first one in nearly 20 years that didn't have a badge holder in it) and Joy purchased more poop bags for the dogs.  We also bought groceries and washed the Jeep.

After lunch back at the RV, we did some exploring in the woods across from the park on our bikes. We found a snowmobile trail that edged a little pond with ducks and wild roses.  When we returned to the RV, the war with the army worms continued while trying to enjoy the great out of doors. We lost mostly, as they were crawling on our chairs, in Joy's hair, on the picnic table, etc.  Kathy steak and chicken and noted that the smoke kept the worms away.

The RV park had a lot of men who worked for oil companies.  The guy next to us worked for Chevron and had been there for 40 days.  He was a great old guy to talk to you and we found out he is building a house in Belize and his property there actually has Mayan ruins on it.  He told us places to stop and see on our way to Alaska and we really enjoyed his company.

We are still a day ahead of schedule and as of this posting have driven over 2400 miles.  We found Alberta to be a little boring with it's flat grasslands and are looking forward to seeing mountains again.  We are both a little road weary and are looking to getting to Tok and settling in for a couple of months. Thanks for traveling with us - preparing the blog allows us to relive our favorite moments of the day and reminds us of what awesome lives we live.