It was May 19, 2016, and our walk along Bear River in the morning just whetted our appetite to get out and see Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, Alaska. Both are famous tourist destinations, and are located at the head of Portland Canal, the longest fjord in British Columbia and, contrary to its name, a natural fjord.
Our first stop was to bike along the shores of Bear River as we headed down to the point of land in Stewart:
Stewart boasts the most northerly ice-free port in North America. While, historically, its business was limited to shipments relating to logging and mining, the port has recently been rebuilt and serves as a significant deep-water port for shipment of goods into interior British Columbia and Alberta:
One of the most interesting facts is that the Port of Stewart sees shipments of wind turbine parts for trucking on to Alberta. As we passed on bicycles, we could see the parts for hundreds of wind turbines sitting in the shipyard, awaiting specially designed long-haul trucks to pick them up and drive them on to their destination. We imagine that the reason for using Stewart rather than another Pacific port such as Vancouver is the relatively minimal number of traffic issues for such large trucks:
The town of Stewart itself is small - only about 500 people, but it is large enough to boast a small grocery store, a petrol station, a hotel, several restaurants and a visitor center. We thought the grocery store had some unique character:
While most of Stewart (and Hyder) was built on pilings in estuarial portions of Portland Canal, some historic buildings survive. Here is the former summer cottage of the Yukon poet, Robert Service, with, randomly, a jerry-built sno-cat car thingy parked out front:
To us, the most interesting feature in Stewart is its estuarial boardwalk, which can be accessed right from downtown:
The estuary is a fascinating ecosystem in its own right, and serves as a nursery for salmon fry before they are large enough to brave the larger waters of Portland Canal or the Pacific Ocean:
Beyond the estuary of Stewart lay the road to Hyder, and, seeing it, we took it! Here we stand at the border. Interestingly, because Hyder and the surrounding area accessible by car is so small, there is no U.S. border crossing station here. We could freely enter without checking in with the U.S. authorities. However, when we returned, we had to be sure to carry our passports, because Canada does maintain a border station at the crossing.
Kathy had heard about the "seafood bus" in Hyder and, despite that fact that few tourist establishments were open (most don't open until June), once we found it, Kathy just had to knock on the door to be sure no seafood lunch was to be found there:
Hyder was established in 1907 as Portland City, named after the fjord. However, in 1914, when the US Post Office Department told residents that there were already too many U.S. communities named Portland, it was renamed Hyder, after Frederick Hyder, a Canadian mining engineer who envisioned a bright future for the area. Hyder was the only practical point of access to the silver mines in Canada; the community became the port, supply point, and post office for miners by 1917. Hyder's boom years were the 1920s, when the Riverside Mine on the U.S. side extracted gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and tungsten. The mine operated from 1924 to 1950. In 1928, the abandoned part of Hyder, which was built on pilings, was destroyed by fire. By 1956 all significant mining had ceased, except for the Granduc Mine on the Canadian side, which operated until 1984 and opened again in 2010.
Hyder is notable for being the only place in Alaska not to use the 907 area code, instead using British Columbia's 250. Tourists also find that Hyder uses the Pacific Time Zone (most of the rest of Alaska uses the Alaska Time Zone), both American and Canadian currency are accepted, observes American and Canadian holidays, send their children to a Canadian school, and calling the police means an RCMP "mountie" will respond.
Hyder has some notoriety as the place where people become "Hyderized." The remaining town bar, located in the Glacier Inn, issues certifications to patrons that they have been "Hyderized" if they are impulsive enough to drink a shot of 151 proof Everclear.
Well, we didn't get Hyderized, but we did eat lunch at the Glacier Inn. It was quite tasty. And Kathy came prepared with a dollar bill she wrote on to memorialize our visit. They hostess kindly provided Kathy a staple gun, and Kathy attached it to the wall of the doorway:
Having been "sort of Hyderized," we hopped back on our bicycles (our daughter Katie has warned us against drunk bicycling), and pedaled out to the end of the Hyder causeway, where a boat ramp and mooring docks are available. We saw these three fishing boats just lolling about, bobbing in the waters of the fjord:
Someone had kindly built a log bench for viewing the fjord. We pondered the scenery and wondered, "Why should we go back to the States?" Our son Matt, ever the practical one, simply replied, "Because winter."
Great pictures!!
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