Bears

Stewart, BC/Hyder, Ak
July 15-16


Once again we were enchanted by the views as we traveled the lower part of the Cassiar Highway.  Majestic mountains, mini waterfalls, babbling rivers/creeks and of course more glaciers.

Momma said she finally found a good reason to have a sunroof.  The views looking up to the top of the mountains as we skirted its foot were astounding.

Now that picture doesn't even come close to the awesome first hand view.  It was so impressive looking straight up as we snaked our way around the base of the soaring mountain.

Our main focus for our trip to Stewart, Canada was to be able to skip across the boarder into Hyder, Alaska

....a short 4 mile jaunt from our campground....and continue another 6 miles to Fish Creek Observation Bridge. 

The salmon swim up Fish Creek and the bears dine and fatten up for the upcoming long winter of hibernation.  What a better way to celebrate this year's anniversary for Momma and Dad.  A nature show.

The only problem is, the salmon didn't read the tour book that said they would arrive mid-July.  Now seeing as there was no dinner in Fish Creek yet, no bears were present to dine.  Pooh!  What a bust!!😞  The only action were the two beavers who were repairing the damage to their dam caused when the rangers busted it up, knowing that the Chum Salmon are too lazy to leap over the dam.

That long blob just to the right of center is a beaver towing a branch that he added to the dam.

Now, just because there were no bears on the 15th, that didn't mean there wouldn't be any on the 16th.  So Momma and Dad got up early and zipped over the border (6:30 am became 5:30 am in Alaska: time zone change) only to be disappointed once again.  And again in the afternoon when they made one last visit to the bridge.  They about wore out their passports getting back into Canada after so many trips.

So it seems that the bear sightings for this leg of the trip were limited to the black bears who were kind enough to be forging along the Cassiar Highway.

 By the way, Hyder has a population of 100 and it sure looks depressing to us.  I sure hope the rangers working at the Observation bridge volunteered to live here.  It would be cruel to send someone to work/live in Hyder.  There is NOTHING in Hyder worth mentioning except the Seafood Bus/diner.  The husband and son catch the fish and the wife cooks and serves out of the bus/kitchen. 
Now the bus owner had a tale to tell.  It seems she had a first in 19 years (I can't believe she has stayed in Hyder that many years).  A black bear broke into the bus on July 7th and had a feast!  She had a long list of how any pounds of fish, hotdogs, sodas, etc that the bear helped himself to.  She was wiped out!!

Hickory
.....on the road again