HEADING DOWN THE CASSIAR HIGHWAY

We left Carcross and drove to Lakeshore RV Park in Teslin for the night.  The next morning we drove all day until we got to Jade City, one hour before they closed at 8PM.  Jade City is unique because it is not so much a city as a highway community made up of one jade business.  The miners in the Cassiar Mountain Range, produce about one million pounds of jade each year.   I bought a cute pair of earrings to match my ring and the price was right.

If you're looking for high quality jade, this is the place to go

From there we drove ten minutes down the road to a large turnout beside Simmons Lake.  It was a pretty lake shore view and very quiet.  Thankfully, the nights are beginning to get darker the further we travel south.  Denis got his fishing pole and tried his luck for a lake trout but he didn’t have the correct lure and didn’t get a bite.  So there was no fresh fish for breakfast.

Our view of Simmons Lake and private fishing hole

The Cassiar Highway roads are pretty narrow but in very good condition and with beautiful scenery. We keep hoping to see the wildlife all the signs keep telling us to watch out for, but we haven’t had much luck.  We stopped at Dease Lake, population 450, because Rumors Café was supposed to have free internet and there was a gas station for us to top-up.  We weren’t very hungry but we needed to check our messages and the café had a minimum order of $6 per person to use their “free” internet. We split an order of the special of the day, fish and chips, for $12.00.  The password to login was “not for free”, not surprising.  Long story short, we couldn’t log in and put the food in a takeout box for tonight’s dinner.

Without the clouds and rain we would not have seen this beautiful rainbow

This was on the Klondike Highway coming out of Skagway

Bove Island - beautiful scenery

If you need internet at Dease Lake, don’t waste your time at Rumors Café, just drive a few minutes down the road to Northern Lights College for really free internet.  The password is “northern lights”. The Milepost has been an invaluable asset during our travels but they forgot to mention that this area has zero cell service.  It seems strange to see people using pay phones.

We drove about twenty minutes past Iskut, population 283, before pulling into a large turnout just before Devil Creek bridge for the night.  It is “illegal” to camp overnight at rest areas and turnouts in BC but everyone seems to do it anyways.  “But officer, I wasn’t camping out, we just pulled over for a few hours shut eye” sounds like a good explanation if and when we get caught.  I’ll be sure to have Denis put some clothes on before he answers the door, THAT might be difficult to explain.

Bear Glacier welcomes us to Stewart, BC

We had a quiet night’s sleep except for the pitter patter of a light rain on the roof.  We woke early and continued our journey to Stewart-Hyder, about 130 miles.  Stewart, population 699, is at the head of Portland Canal on the Alaska-British Columbia border. The canal is a narrow saltwater fjord approximately 90 miles long and forms a natural boundary between Alaska and Canada.  Stewart has a deep harbor and boasts of being Canada’s most northerly ice-free port.  Hyder, population 100, is 2.3 miles beyond Stewart and we found a private RV park called Camp Run-A-Muck in Hyder.  We have water and electricity, a pay phone (absolutely no cell service), and a nice slow internet connection.  But what do you expect, we are in the middle of bear country.  Speaking of bears, they tell me that three or four black bears are commonly seen walking through town.  We saw one this morning crossing the road.  Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

We decided to stay in Hyder rather than Stewart because it’s closer to Salmon Glacier and the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area.  Unfortunately, the weather isn’t cooperating.  It is cloudy and foggy with drizzling rain.   Fish Creek is famous for observing both grizzly and black bears fishing for salmon in the shallow waters of Fish Creek and Marx Creek.   The boardwalk view area is above the creeks making it safe but allowing us to get very close.  People spend hours with their cameras set up on tripods waiting to get a great photo.

Safe, sound, cold and wet on the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area boardwalk

We got to watch this grizzly catching salmon and bringing it to shore to eat

We watched him for about a half hour - he caught 4-5 fish - they eat the skin and brains only

We drove out to Fish Creek and spent some time watching the salmon spawn then we drove the additional 20 miles to see Salmon Glacier.  The road is gravel, narrow and winding but doable.  We got some good views of this huge glacier but the fog obscured the higher points.

The toe or terminus of Salmon Glacier

This is the 5th largest glacier in North America 

We came back and I boiled up some water for ziti, broccoli with garlic, olive oil, butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese.  Tossed together a green salad and we had ourselves a nice dinner before taking another drive out to Fish Creek before calling it a day.

That’s all folks!  Thanks for stopping in.