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| Kinaskan Lake |
229 miles (Kinaskan Provincial Park to Camp Run-a-Muck) including a 45 mile round trip to the largest glacier one can drive to- Salmon
Glacier. Unfortunately, you can’t access it on foot. I suppose if you're super adventurous you could hike
down to it.
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| Cassiar Mountains, I think |
Finally left at a reasonable time this morning.
Continuing down the Cassiar Highway I successfully crossed several of my
favorite grated bridge decks and maneuvered the first 10% grade I’ve seen on
the trip. Most have been 6-8%. It was a short section so no problem.
The Cassiar
Highway was much busier today. There seemed to be a caravan of monster rvs and
many more big trucks. It was still less busy than most roads back home.
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| Cassiar Highway |
The Autumn colors
are muted yellows and golds of cottonwood, alder, and willow along the highway. I
don’t think it gets as cold as some areas to bring on the near fluorescent
colors or the soils are different. It’s Autumn here, the scent of it permeates the air. Advice- When one pulls
off to look at the scenery and finds a fresh pile of bear poop and there’s so
much shrubbery around one can’t see what’s around- it’s a good idea to call out
“hey bear” and maybe clap one’s hands. I didn’t see anything but was watchful,
nonetheless.
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| Cassiar Mountains? |
The further south I travel the more the forest changes. Firs have become dominant instead of the stunted spruce.
I would
like to have known the Cassiar Highway before the transmission lines. It must
have been even more beautiful with the thickness of spruce and pine and fir and
birch, alder, cottonwood, willow, and so many varieties of berry bushes. The views would
have been forever clear in the shadow of the glaciers.
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| Bear Glacier |
Once I
turn off the Cassiar, the highway to the Stewart-Hyder communities looks just
like home, deep evergreen; plus it’s cloudy and rainy. This is my side trip to Stewart,
B.C./Hyder, Alaska. Check out a map because they are right next to each other
and in two different countries. They lie at the head of the Portland Canal which
is saltwater and the fourth longest fjord in the world. Quite the unique little
communities that once boasted 10,000 people in the 1920s. Not even close today; Stewart at 699 and Hyder at 100.
There’s still mining occurring, plus logging, fishing, tourism, and construction of more
transmission lines through the wilderness.
The drive from the junction of the Cassiar Highway to Stewart-Hyder is 40 miles of fabulous scenery. Bear River canyon, Bear Glacier, steep-walled high-rise mountains with 72 avalanche paths between the highway junction and Stewart. Rugged remote breath-taking country.
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| The bus |
After I set up camp I head back to Stewart for clothes soap and lunch. I stopped at the Stewart Info center
to find a good place to eat. Go to the bus; huh? Yep, it’s the Seafood Express
in a bus- now in its 18th year! Back I go to Hyder, turn into a neighborhood to find
the only fresh fish in town. I had a delightful grilled halibut burger with
fries and a small apple fritter (she threw it in because she had just made them this morning using her apples before the bear got them). She showed me her door that the black bear
busted and the nail-filled board to keep it out. I watched the ravens and
eagles play on the wind above the ridge while she cooked my fresh food. Yeah, when in Hyder, eat at the bus.
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| the mountains and estuary at head of Portland Canal |
I left the trailer at the Camp Run-a-Muck
RV park and drove up a terrible road to the Salmon Glacier. There’s no way a trailer should be towed up this road. I saw rental
RVs and others and am amazed they made it. It was very rough, very steep and
windy in sections with a drop off to certain death, plus somewhat slick from
the rain. Fortunately, I have 4wd so not a big deal when not towing a trailer.
I did try to save my poor brakes coming back down by using every gear but 4lo.
The Salmon glacier is big and blue and white. The clouds had moved in so I
couldn’t see all of the surrounding mountains but I got the gist of it- big!
The road leads past the Fish Creek bear viewing platform which I will visit in
the morning (10 minutes from my camp site). They haven’t been seeing any
grizzly lately but that’s okay, I’m game for whatever comes along. The spawners
are mostly pink salmon with some chum thrown in. It smells badly. I’m at the
end of the season so I guess there’s not quite as much activity. I read that the
Kermode bears can be seen here; a unique white form of black bear. Wolves have
been known to show up to snatch a salmon also (my next adventure is to see
that).
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| Salmon Glacier |
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| Hell of a road! |
I’m not
real impressed with the RV Park. There was a medical emergency so I just pulled
in and found a spot knowing they’d find me later. There’s no wifi or cell
service. The laundry is pricey and 8 minute showers are $3. They even lock the
restrooms up at night and open them whenever they get around to it in the morning. I now have
something to compare it with and no others lock up the restrooms at night. Cheap at $28 but barely worth it with all the extra costs and lack of other services.
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| Amanita muscaria- found all over the RV park |
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| Camp Run-a-Muck camp site |
Seeing the
destruction from the transmission lines has been deeply troubling. My MP3
player was playing the soundtrack from the documentary “How the West was Won”
while I traveled through some pretty massive damage. I grieve for the scars we
are leaving on the land and pray that future generations forgive us. It just
seems like there’s a better way to provide services to communities without
destroying the land. When do we stop? We are all a part of this. Am I being
selfish or judgmental that these communities don’t deserve electricity? I don’t
know, I do know that other communities all over the world have found
alternative ways to become self-sufficient that don’t cause such destruction.
Painful.
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| Bald eagle munching on spawned salmon carcass |
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| Spawning salmon |
On to
frivolous things. Six motion pictures have been filmed in Stewart- Bear Island
(1979), The Thing (1982), Iceman (1984), Leaving Normal (1992), Insomnia
(2002), and Eight Below (2005). Famous, albeit, remote place.
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| Salmon River |
Oh- the Canadians have a checkpoint between Hyder and Stewart so I had to pass through it to go to the store and then again to leave. Just keeping track of my movements.
Wildlife-
heard varied thrush, crows (first I’ve heard since starting the trip), common
loons, red-tailed hawk, bald eagles, and mew gulls.
Lesson #18-
Stop to feel the land, inhale its unique scent, listen to its music through
raven, loon, wolf. Remember the places you visit. Remember your place.
