We woke up Wednesday morning and made coffee and eggs for breakfast while enjoying the lake views. Tim and I love our morning coffee and we were overjoyed to find an amazing portable coffee grinder for this trip! Paired with an aero press, it really makes every morning better. It requires a little more time and effort than brewing coffee in a kitchen, but it’s perfect for the road!
We didn’t linger and got packed up and on the road by 9am. After passing through Dease Lake, the road climbed to the highest point on the Cassiar – 4,071 feet through Gnat Pass. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground and the temperature dropped to 30 degrees. This area is so scenic! We passed Upper Gnat Lake and Lower Gnat Lake and stopped multiple times for pictures.
The road then descends into Iskut, a small community surrounded by towering mountains within the Mount Edziza Provincial Park. Later in the day as we approached Meziadin Junction, we spotted a black bear on the side of the road hastily foraging for berries.
Interested in a side trip to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK, we jogged off the Cassiar and continued on to route 37A toward the coast. A second black bear, this one much larger, lumbered across the road in front of us and quickly sought shelter in the brush alongside the road.
The road to Stewart is beautiful and reminded us a lot of Keystone Canyon on the way to Valdez. Towering mountains, endless waterfalls, and views of Bear Glacier were highlights. Stewart and Hyder are small communities located on the Portland Canal – a long narrow channel that eventually leads into the Gulf of Alaska. The canal also serves as the border between US and Canada, dividing Southeast Alaska from the coast of British Columbia. There are no US Customs when crossing from Stewart into Hyder, only a Canadian checkpoint when leaving Hyder and re-entering Stewart.
We continued into Hyder and drove down a long road paralleling Fish Creek, that ultimately leads to the Salmon Glacier. The overwhelming smell of dead fish became noticeably apparent and tons of spawned out salmon were visible in the water and on both sides of the creek. The road turned to dirt and began to climb steeply as we crossed back into British Columbia. Several signs along the way indicated there was lots of mining activity and multiple trucks passed us going down. After about 25km, we found ourselves in the middle of a clearly active mining operation (Canada’s Premier Gold Project). Despite several signs advertising stunning views of Salmon Glacier, it just didn’t seem like a good idea to continue driving through the muddy glacial silt while massive rock trucks with wheels the size of the car surrounded us. Feeling like we were clearly in the way, we carefully turned around. A miner in a pickup truck across from us saw our maneuver, pulled up alongside, and rolled down his window. “You’ve come up too far to turn around!” he exclaimed. We laughed nervously and asked how much farther it was. He pointed to a switchback on the other side of the mountain and said it was just around the bend. “Follow me through” he said. Ok, we were committed. He kindly led us through the frenzy of mining operations. We followed closely and made it to the other side. He smiled and waved and we continued on our way to the Salmon Glacier lookout. If it weren’t for his kindness and gentle encouragement, I’m not sure we would have continued up the mountainside to see the glacier. But I’m so glad we did! He was right – the glacier soon came into view after the narrow winding switchback and the lookout point is spectacular.
On the way down, we took our time navigating the road and stopped at a small gift shop in Hyder. The woman behind the counter, Carolyn, was very friendly and asked about our travels. When we told her we were leaving Alaska, she was aghast and asked, “Why would you ever want to leave the great north!?”. I laughed and explained this is a new, exciting chapter for us. We may end up back in Alaska someday in the future, but we’re excited to explore a little bit. She agreed and chuckled, “Oh yes, life is full of many different chapters…good for you.” Curious to know more, she asked what jobs we were leaving behind in Anchorage. I brought up my previous position with the National Weather Service and she immediately lit up. “You know I used to be a Cooperative Weather Observer” she said as she pulled out her B-91 record book from under the counter. I was immediately intrigued. She started showing me pages and pages of daily weather records from Hyder, most from 2010-2011, and pointed out her annotations in the remarks section about Salmon Glacier Jökulhlaup events. She then went on to talk about some extreme snowfall she had witnessed over the years (up to 4 feet in a day!).
Our short conversation reminded me that I love talking about the weather with people. For one, you never know which direction the conversation will go (I’ve definitely had some interesting weather conversations!) But more than anything, I love that it’s a common and unifying experience for all of us, and I especially love hearing from individuals about their unique experiences and observations.
Speaking of the weather, as we said goodbye to Carolyn and departed the gift shop, the rain picked up in intensity and it started pouring. We crossed back into Stewart, BC and found a campsite at Rainey Creek Campground (another site that has lived up to its name!). Tim and I scrambled as quickly as possible to get the tent up. Once our shelter was secured, we made a meal under the adjacent covered gazebo and watched as sheets of rain fell around us. It got dark quickly, and as we crawled into our sleeping bags, I couldn’t help but be so thankful for our tent for keeping us warm and dry! Tomorrow we would complete the Cassiar Highway and head west to make another side trip to Prince Rupert, BC.
