7/3/19 - Day 5 - Stewart-Hyder Highway

We woke up to overcast skies and mid 60's as we travel north. Our goal today is to head up Highway 37A to Stewart, Canada & Hyder, USA. We were surprised that the town of Smithers is larger than New Hazelton. It looked like the reverse on our maps, however the gas at New Hazelton
cost less, so that worked out ok.

     There were a few stops on Highway 16 between Telkwa and our turn onto the Cassiar Highway,
37, which we'd like to visit on our return trip... or not, if we are like horses heading to the barn! We made a short stop just as you turn on to the Cassiar that was very interesting. The tiny village of Gitwangak (native spelling, Git-Gyeetsw) has some totem poles that date back to the 1800's, as one of the tribal members told us. In addition, there was an Anglican Church bell tower that was built in 1864. Each culture's  woodwork had its own kind of artistry.
Not far up the Cassiar we saw a black bear on the side of the embankment. The dark black fur sure stands out against the bright green grass. Its paw was lifted, so it looked like it was waving at us. Periodically on the roads there have been warning signs... deer, bear, moose, caribou, and even people. Yep, those pesky  tourists who run across the road looking for the perfect picture are definitely a road hazard!

At Mezdiadin Lake we turned west onto the Stewart-Hyder road. I am not sure what I expected, but it wasn't this. There are steep cliffs as you wind up the Bear Creek valley. Even on a cloudy day we would turn a corner and spot a high snowy peak, and then you start seeing glaciers and silt laden rushing rivers. Bear Glacier is a large one which you can see from the road. The water gushing from its terminus was impressive. We also drove through Stewart and past Hyder about 16 miles to see the much larger Salmon Glacier. Tricky driving, I'm glad Pat is comfortable with steep, one-lane gravel roads that have precipitous drop offs.
Salmon Glacier















One other piece of interest from today's trek is that Hyder is actually in Alaska, but can only be reached by road through Stewart in Canada or by water. It is a town from a time gone past, sometimes referred to as a "living" ghost town.
You don't have to go through American Customs to go in,
but you have to go through Canadian Customs to leave!

Tomorrow we get back on the Cassiar headed north, however I am not sure when this will get posted because we haven't seen a place with wi-fi since Highway 16.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1 – Searching for Some Sunshine

Image
We headed south from Olympia, driving through gloomy rain showers until we were well east of Portland, Oregon. Our destination? The Total Eclipse of the sun in Texas, which will occur on April 8th. That will give us about 9 days to travel the 3,000+ miles. I always forget the interesting geology that is exposed in the Columbia River gorge. The varying shapes of the basalt columns kept my interest for miles on end. Especially this time of year, spring, there were many waterfalls spraying the cliffs, and Multnomah Falls was roaring! Our first night was spent at a Harvest Host location in Echo, Oregon. The host was Echo Ridge Cellars. They have a nice flat gravel lot for Harvest Host guests.   The wines sold are pressed from their vineyard which is about 3 miles away. The building itself is my favorite part. They have restored and updated an old grain elevator. The inside of the elevator was left exposed so visitors can see the construction. It is very solid 2x6 boards stacked flat, rat
Read more

Day 9 – Side Trip to the Border

Image
With an extra day before our reservation at Lake Brownwood State Park for the eclipse, we debated where to go. Pat suggested a side trip down to Del Rio and/or Eagle Pass at the US-Mexican border which had been in the news of late. After looking over our maps, we decided to just go take a look at it. (Our apologies, this blog is longer than our normal ones, but it was a very interesting excursion) We drove down Hwy 277 through relatively flat terrain. There was scrub brush and cactus for miles and miles. When news reporters talk about illegal immigrants disappearing into the brush, we could easily see how that could be. Someone could be just feet away from the edge of the road and not be seen. The two-lane road was a good road with regular passing lanes. The further south we went the sparser the traffic became. It was kind of eerie and we wondered at times if we should be heading down there.   “Was this really a good idea?” However, curiosity kept us going. About thirty miles fro
Read more

Day 7 – A Window, the Wind, and Warriors

Image
The sun was out all day today as we traversed Arizona. There were so many choices of roadways, where would the wind blow us? We headed out from Page onto the scenic Hwy 98 with Navajo Sandstone cliffs to the north and periodically solitary sculpted rocks towered above the sagebrush flatlands on either side of the highway. Our next choice was to cross the Navajo and Hopi Reservations on Hwy 264. This road travelled up over around and down several mesas with only scattered villages. As we drove, we noted the highway was designated the Code Talker Highway for the Navajo Marines who helped the Allied forces during WWII.  Camp was in the town of Window Rock, which was designated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the center of the Navajo Nation. We made camp for the night at the Navajo Museum. Later in the evening, a short drive from camp brought us to the park at the base of Window Rock which is a huge wind eroded sandstone sculpture that allows you to glimpse the sky beyond.  What we
Read more