Out of the wilderness to the lower 48.

7/31/13-8/2/13 The last couple of days in July and first couple of days of August were spent in Stewart, British Columbia/Hyder, Alaska. The cities and border are located on the Portland Canal which empties into the Pacific Ocean. We camped at Bear Creek Campground and travelled into AK the couple of days we were there. Both are extremely small towns with little services. In fact Hyder claims to be the “Smallest Little Ghost Town in AK”. Hyder was recommended in our campground book as a good place to view bears and other wildlife. Fish Creek is located in the Tongas National Forest and is just one of the features of the really narrow, dirt and scariest road ever. I didn’t fair too well on our travel to the “must see” Salmon Glacier. We made it to the toe of the glacier but not the summit. Fran was very patient with me thank goodness. Once again I prayed my way through. Isn’t God wonderfulJ. We did see God’s glory all around us with magnificent glaciers, including Salmon, lakes, rivers and waterfalls. We took several photos which you can see below. 

Fish Creek was full of spawning salmon both Chum and Pink. To protect the animals and people there is a raised boardwalk for viewing convenience. And as you can imagine it gets packed during ranger recommend viewing times. The Chum salmon were very large as you can see from the photos below. The water was so clear you could see every rock, ripple and wave from the fish. You could also pick out the “redds”, the beds that the salmon create to spawn. When you look at the pictures you can visibly see the gray areas of dirt that are the redds. The salmon with the distinctive hump back, hook mouth and mottled coloring have finished their task. At this stage they begin to die and detoriate . We didn’t see any bears as it was midafternoon when arrived back at Fish Creek. The ranger said the best time to see them was early morning and late evening. She was correct because when we went back that evening we saw a black bear (pictures below) and the biggest grizzly we’ve seen in the wild. Unfortunately he was nestled in the trees and I couldn’t get a clear shot of him. The ranger told us that this particular bear showed every evening and some mornings. He also told us the bear weighs in at over 800 lbs. and will weigh well over a 1000 when he hibernates. Very impressive. We saw this guy on our way back to Stewart.

 We went to the Hyder General Store and met Wes, a disabled Army Vet who has lived in AK for over 28 years. His old dog Daisy remained asleep the whole time we talked to him. He shared one particularly endearing story of a grizzly (Mira) and her 3 year old cub Francis. The rangers decided it was time to relocate the mom and cub and set about sedating both. Mira was relocated 100 miles away from Fish Creek and Francis 250 miles from Fish Creek. Five days after the relocation Mira showed back up and 25 days later Francis. Needless to say the rangers decided to leave well enough alone. Wes had pictures of many of the locally photographed and named bears including some on the front lawn of the store. We purchased a video of the local wildlife from Wes and are really enjoying it.

Ahh, a big drink from the pond next to fish creek

spawning salmon

Wes's General store

toe of salmon glacier

View of Tongas Nat Forest. Lots of glaciers

Waterfalls were abundant on the way to the top

3 little bears following mom to cross street. Hwy into Steward, BC

Bear Glacier on way to Steward, BC

"I've been here. . . . Welcome. . ." Indian road sign

Crossing from Hyder, AK back into Steward, BC

Reflections at Moose Lake

more spawning salmon

Fran finally got to see his wild wolf

Success with her fishing endeavors

eagle nest

Wolf beginning her fishing expedition

Scoping out the creek

one of the old churches in Stewart, BC

After Hyder we head for the last leg of our trip to Hope, CA – Sumas WA to cross the border into the USA. I’ll fill you in on some beautiful pictures from our stay at Spencer’s Bridge, through the canyon on route 1 to Hope. A hair raising trip and magnificent drive. You’d think by now that I’d be used to high places, cliff turns and straight drop offs. I’ll just need to keep my connection with God open. “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy. . . “ Psalm 32:11 NTV I shout for joy every time we come off the high road.

More to follow that we're re-connected with the good 'ole USA. Thanks for your patience as I attempt to catch up with you all.