On Tuesday, August 20, 2019, we left the snow behind us as we traveled south from Dease Lake to Meziadin Lake Provincial Park along the Cassiar Highway. While we escaped the snow, rain was our constant companion. We set up camp, put the kayaks on the gravel beach in front of our rig and prayed to the rain gods to give us a small break in the weather so we could paddle the beautiful lake before us.
On Wednesday our prayers went unanswered. Meziadin Lake was shrouded in clouds and fog. With temperatures in the 40s and misty rain falling, we decided pass on paddling and drove into Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, Alaska. The Stewart-Hyder Access Road travels through Bear Creek Canyon in the Coast Range Mountains. Along the 40 mile drive, the clouds danced across the tops of the peaks giving us small glimpses of the glaciers hanging high above us.
With all the recent snowmelt and heavy rain, the streams and rivers were running wild.
The Bear Glacier is a favorite viewpoint about half-way to Stewart and Hyder. As Bear Glacier retreated, it formed Strohn Lake. If the weather improves, we also hope to paddle Strohn Lake. We took a few minutes from our drive to explore the boat launch (just in case).
One highlight of all this rain was the numerous waterfalls. The water in this fall seemed to just leap into thin air.
We followed one of the back roads into Stewart and stopped at the rodeo grounds where we saw this young black bear snooping about.
We drove through downtown Stewart on our way to Hyder to check out a possible lunch spot if the Alaska Seafood Bus wasn't open. With one last check to make sure we had our passports, we left Canada and re-entered Alaska. While Alaska does not have a border station in Hyder, Canada does have one in Stewart. We would need to go back through Canada Customs when we returned from our adventure. Aside from the rain, Hyder looks exactly like it did in 2016.
Hyder was established in 1907 as Portland City, named after the Portland 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. The pilings of old Portland City can still be seen down on the waterfront. A ghostly reminder of the once great town.
We stopped to watch a Golden Eagle try and dry his wings on a fallen tree. After a bit of preening, he/she gave up and flew off into the mist.
Our view out the Portland Canal is shrouded in mist. Despite its naming as a canal, the inlet is a fjord, a completely natural and not man-made geographic feature and extends 71.2 miles northward from the Portland Inlet at Pearse Island, British Columbia, to Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder, Alaska.
Hyder has a community boat launch and small boat harbor.
The big attraction in Hyder, besides being the "friendliest ghost town in Alaska," is the the bear viewing platform at the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Area. We hadn't even gotten to the viewing area and we saw this black bear on the road.
During salmon season, the park collects a CAD12.00 user fee to walk the boardwalk. Small price to pay to stay safely above the bears feeding on the salmon.
The unusually heavy rains have made the area a lush green garden. However, the heavy rain makes the salmon harder to catch, and the bears know that. During our time along the boardwalk, we didn't see any bears actively fishing. They were all napping, digesting their previous catch, and waiting for the stream to calm down.
We did see two different types of salmon actively spawning. These big brightly colored fish are chum salmon. The smaller pink salmon were harder to photograph.
Bald eagles line the banks of the Salmon River waiting for their chance to snag a salmon. You can see one below, perched on the end of a long, thin snag:
All this touring builds up a powerful hunger. We stopped at The Bus in Hyder for a halibut burger and grilled salmon.
Dana, the owner, is a one woman show. With her small grill and little fryer, she feeds hundreds of hungry travelers. She also took time out to take us over to their seafood processing center where we picked up some fresh flash frozen cod. Looking forward to making Newfie Cod Chowder! Thanks Dana.
We made the long drive back to Meziadin Lake in record time. There was no need to stop and take more pictures, as the clouds descended and the rain returned in force. On a bright note, returning into our campground, we did spot this fellow meandering through camp picking off the last of the thimbleberries. Who knew? We drove all the way to the Bear Viewing Platform to see bears and we could have stayed right here in camp.
There is a slight chance there may be a break in the rain tomorrow. If so, we may try and see Salmon Glacier tomorrow. In 2016, we were unable to drive up the gravel road, as one of the mines in the area was doing some rock blasting and the road was closed. Wish us luck!
I want to visit Hyder!
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