Cassiar Highway and Hyder

From Watson Lake we had a decision to make.  Take the Cassiar Highway south to Stewart/Hyder or continue on the Alcan.  Either way you spend a lot of time driving in British Columbia.  We picked the Cassiar because we had heard it is more beautiful than the Alcan and we wanted to go to Hyder, AK to see more bears.  There are only 2 ways to Hyder; by boat or by road thru BC.  We had also been told that we would see lots of wild life driving the Cassiar.  Turns out the drive was spectacular. We did see several animals; 3 black bears, 4 domestic horses and a goat!

It was a very long drive (8 hours) from Watson Lake to a campground.  Once again there were no hook up sites available so we boon docked with no problem.  Next day we drove another 2 hours to a Provincial campground about an hour from Stewart.  Then we jumped in the car and dove the hour to Stewart/Hyder.

We paid to go out onto the well protected walkway hoping to see bears feeding on the thousands of salmon that were spawning.  I mean there were tons of salmon, many of them dead already, but no bears.

So we drove up to Salmon Glacier.  Beautiful!!

We went back to the viewing platform later to see if any bears were around.  Nope.  The ranger said the bears were really quite full and that most of the bear activity is in July.  Too bad for us.  But the day was not a complete loss as far as bear sightings were concerned.  We watched a black bear cross the street in town.  They are that plentiful that they just wonder thru town.  Awesome.

A few notes on Hyder.  It is in Alaska so is on Alaska time.  Stewart is in Canada and on Pacific time.  Our car clock changed time zones when we crossed into Alaska from BC.  Later we learned from the mail clerk at the post office in Hyder where we had had out mail sent that even though they are in Alaska, they all stay on Pacific time.  It is just easier that way.

There is no customs check point from Stewart, BC to Alkaska USA.  Don't know why, but there isn't.  There is a Canadian customs check point coming out of Alaska to BC.  So take your passport.  We did, no problem.