Letter 10 British Columbia III Cassiar Hwy

Monday May 30, as we were preparing to depart, Terry and Olivia stuck up a conversation with a single man who had arrived late Sunday. His name was Guy Albert Bazin from France. He had a most unusual motor home and had spent the last five years traveling around the world. From France he went east avoiding countries with conflicts and came to Vancouver from Australia. He works his Visas to be in the USA three months, then Canada six months before repeating. When he arrives in Florida he will store his rig and fly home to see his family he hasn’t seen in the five years.

He had designed his rig starting with a German truck. The tires are military. He carries two spare tires and a bicycle in the back. Like boats and USA big rigs his refrigerator and stove are diesel. He has enough fuel to travel 2,000 miles. He had solar panels on top of his motor home, but they only create a small amount of power. He had a big generator under the living quarters, along with boxes of spare parts as the German parts are not available most places. When something breaks and he doesn’t have the part, his brother in France ships him the part. He also radios his brother daily to let him know he is ok. If the brother doesn’t hear from him in three days, then he knows there is a problem.

His career was as an IT manager for 40 years. Like Fred he is 70 and hard of hearing. He told Fred he also needed hearing aids. He was totally self sufficient and he and his rig were very impressive. If you wish to follow his journeys he has a web site www.busaroundglobe.com click on the British Flag in top right for an English version.
WOW! Our travels seem trivial compared to Guy.

When we hit the road we were behind the Rainwaters several miles. We enjoyed seeing snow capped mountains come and go behind closer ones. At Old Hazelton we stopped to see a village and museum store. It was very close to the Buckley River where another river joined. In 2007 the village was completely under water, so this modest rise in the river wasn’t a concern. As we came out of Old Hazelton we again crossed the Buckley viewing Mt Blunt in the background. Again these mountains just go straight up from the roads. There was the Hagwiglet canyon along the Buckley forcing it into a small area so the waters become very terbulent.

There we so many mountains that the map didn’t name, but we enjoyed looking at them anyway. As we neared the turn for the Cassiar we could see the Seven Sisters mountain and like others it grew as we approached. We gassed up at this intersection as we will be driving 450 miles with very few gas stations.

We took a small detour to see the community of Gitanyow where they have one of the
largest concentrations of standing totem poles in northwestern BC, this is only a sample.

Back on the highway we drove about 60 miles through forest on either side of the road before starting to view the Coastal Mountains to the northwest. Along this stretch Fred saw five bears and we counted only 13 cars meeting us.

At milepost 97, we turned off to take the Sewart-Hyder Road where we drove throught the Coastal Mountain Range. We stopped to take pictures ofhanging glaciers. We aren't sure which are the glaciers, but the sign said they were there.

We passed along a lake at the terminus of Bear Glacier, at one time the glacier reached the highway.

We viewed many waterfalls. This picture only shows two streams falling approximately 3,000 feet. The one on the right has at least eight levels. There were at least nine of these falls along that mountain.

At the end of the road was the town of Hyder, Alaska. Yes, the pavement ended and we enter the US with no customs stop well er there was a

customs house years ago. On the border at Eagle Point is the stone storehouse built by Capt DD Gaillart of the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1896. This is the oldest masonry building in Alaska.

Hyder became an access and support point for the miners, where Stewart served as the center for Canadian mining. Mining ceased in 1956. Now Hyder is the largest friendliest Ghost town in the USA. Well not exactly a ghost town, it has 80 full time residents.

Stewart and Hyder are at the head of Portland Canal, a narrow saltwater fjord approximately 90 miles long and forms a natural boundary between Alaska and Canada. Stewart has a deep harbor and boasts of being Canada’s most northerly ice free port.

After arriving and setting up camp we took June and Terry to see the Bear diners. We had hoped to see bears fishing for chum and pink salmon in the shallow waters of Fish & Marx Creeks, but July & August are the fish runs. We walked along on decks overlooking the pretty streams, too bad there were no salmon or bears at this time of year.

September had told us to be sure to go to the bar in Hyder and get “Hyderized.” Terry became our guinea pig and ordered one, just to see what it was. It was a shot of 140 proof ever clear with a glass of water. The bartender gave him a spiel of how to drink it, “one gulp, water could follow. No throwing up, restroom was to the right, door behind if he needed to.” After he swallowed it, she took the remains, poured it on the bar and lit it. Then she gave him a card to carry with him proving he had been “Hyderized.”

Driving back through town to the RV park we passed a lady cleaning a salmon. Fred put on the brakes and we turned around to watch and question her. She was embarrassed and stated her husband told her no one would watch. In fact, it had become a community affair as friends, neighbors and strangers gathered to watch. She was very good natured about it.

Tuesday, May 31 after a lazy morning, June and Terry joined us for a jaunt into Stewart and we did have to show our passports and be questioned for our Canadian entry. We bought gas and found a bakery for cappuccino and goodies. We noticed their
grocery store with their baskets on the roof. Hope they also have some inside.

Then we ventured up the canyon to see Stewart Glacier. The road was gravel and after about 15 miles and a distant view of the glacier Fred decided he had driven on enough of the cliff hanger road, so we took our pictures and turned around. On the way back we saw a beautiful lake made by miners.

Not far from camp we stopped to walk to a
bridge we had heard about. A couple decided this creek needed a bridge and they personally built it. The workmanship and quality of supplies was remarkable for a little stream.

June and Olivia drove through the town tring to find a Hyder Sweatshirt and exploring. They drove out to a pier and managed to turn around at a very narrow bridge, then found the dump, but before getting back they followed a sign for Fine Seafood at the bus. We went back there for fried, grilled and sautéed halibut supper. Not bad.
The Dallas Mavericks were playing the first of seven games for the NBA national championship so we all went to the watch the game.

Fred was very intensely watching the game while everyone else sort of did.

June and Olivia were sitting at a table learning about each other. Olivia went to the restroom and told June it was real fancy, they even had a book of matches on the back of the commode. June didn’t have any idea what they were for. Do you? Later in the car we asked Terry and he didn’t know either. Guess we grew up in different parts of the country? They both agreed it made sense, We had lots of laughs over it.

Wednesday, June 1 we told the locals goodbye and headed back to the Cassiar Highway. We stopped at a pull out to check signals with the Rainwaters and a logger stopped for his break. We found they carry 80,000 pounds of logs.
A little farther up the road. We stopped at the Mehan Lake Provincial rest area for a lunch break and enjoyed the scenery of the lake and mountains.

A short distance from there was the Bell II crossing and Lodge which is a popular place with heliskiers in the winter. What is heliskiing? We guessed Helsinki cross country or Helicopter skiing. You were right if you said Helicopter skiing. We found it is the ultimate. With over 9,500 KM2 it is big. Last Frontier Helisking operates the largest single heliski area on the planet and all of it is exclusively for our use. The Skeena and Coast Mountains of northern BC offer massive tree runs in old growth forest, huge glaciated features in high alpine terrain and everything in between. It’s a nirvana of steep and aggressive lines for the diehard, through to gentler terrain for a mellow experience.

Picture the largest single heliski area on the planet; 75 feet of annual snowfall, 100% small group heli-skiing, and two remote lodges to choose from. Now imagine yourself with a small group of friends, cranking out turn after turn in zero-density-blower-fluffy-powder. Try wiping that small off your face. If you can’t do that now, try paying for all inclusive meals, lodging and all the skiing you want for only $8,000 a week. If you want to learn more contact them at www.lastfrontierheli.com
We gassed up at the lodge for only $5.77 a gallon.

By now we were looking for a place to stay and pulled into several spots and eliminating them. Further ahead Fred spotted a bear a long way off. We watched it and were slowing to get a picture when a motorcycle whizzed around us. Then he saw the bear. As he came very close to the bear he honked and the bear just looked at him, then he gunned his engine and the bear reluctantly wandered off the road. It was still at the side of the road looking at us as we passed.

We drove on with good views of the Coast and Skeena Mountains before finding a large turnout at Devil’s creek. This was a first for both couples to spend the night on the road. We werehidden by northbound traffic but still a little visible to the southbound. There was plenty of room for others to join us. later in the day.

Later in the day we walked down to and on the Bridge. It is a metal grating surface that we could see though and Fred didn’t stay on it too long. Olivia and June went a little ways, Terry was the only brave one.

Thursday, June 2, we left our nice overnight spot along the highway, continuing north we saw some fellows, filming a documentary of this
vehicle traveling from Anchorage to Vancouver. We thought of Deiter when we saw the NAPA mud flaps.

This “thing” the young man called it was certainly unique. Both the vehicle and the Airstream are vintage and at the moment were having a hard getting it started. Note: Fred has on the orange T-shirt. It was running when we left. We think NAPA should sponsor them for some commercials. The web site for the film crew is www.mjolk.fi just keep in mind it is in Finland.

At Iskut we bought gas and a southbound rig told us there was a huge fire south of Watson Lake near the town of Cassiar. It was between us and the Alaska Highway. Delima! We drove on north to Dease Lake where they had closed the road. We found an RV park with WiFi where we will wait.
Other rigs came in and it became a party.

Up until today we only met 26 cars on the Cassiar and saw 14 bears. That's in 303 miles. We really felt we had the road to ourselves.

We love hearing from you so email us at
Olivia@bobheck.com or Fredharrington@yahoo.com