Nearing the end of a fantastic rally!
Our 63-day adventure is nearing the end, but we still have hundreds of miles to go. Our next adventure will take us to Stewart BC and Hyder AK which is over 700 miles from Skagway, and we only have three days to get there. The first day will drive up Alaska Highway One ending in North Beaver Post, YT which is just north of Whitehorse. Except for more of the fantastic scenery we have been seeing this leg is uneventful. Day two takes us down the Cassiar Highway which is the only other route back to the US. It is supposed to take us to a campground in Dease Lake BC but much to our dismay it has been closed all summer, I think someone told me it has actually been closed for three or four years! So tonight, we are going to boondock on an abandoned air strip. The weather has been raining off and on most of the day, but I guess we are getting used to that. Fortunately, it is just cloudy when we arrive. As we are checking in with the wagon master, he notices that one of my safety pins has come off on our tow bar. Since we have not had any problem, I want to think that it fell out just as we turned into the airstrip cause if it didn’t, we dodged a major problem today. We are supposed to have a camp dinner tonight around the campfire but as luck would have it once again it is raining. After a dinner of hot dogs, beans, macaroni and cheese. We were supposed to have Smores around a campfire but as stated above it is raining! After dinner we retire to our rigs and settle in for another day on the road. On a side note, one disadvantage of traveling with a dog is that it has to go out at night. Let me tell you it was plenty dark on a cloudy night on an abandoned air strip and although Edgar wanted to explore, I wasn’t getting too close to the tree line!
The next day will get us to Stewart BC it is a little nicer and the scenery is great. One of the major sights was another Glacier. We are staying at a campground in Canada but a lot of the attraction of this stop is in Alaska. Since there is only one way in and out the US border crossing has been closed however each time we come back to Canada we have to go through a stop at customs. Thankfully Judy is getting really good at this and all of the data is stored in her phone. Unfortunately we have to be almost at the border before we can connect to cell service.
Stewart is a small town that has enough to support the people who live in the area but according to the wagon master Covid 19 has done a lot to kill it. While Judy and I were shopping in the grocery store we were amazed at how casual the store was in fact this store was so casual that we saw a lady nursing her baby while shopping. Although Stewart is failing what is across the border in Hyder is worse! Hyder is a town with a population of thirty-eight full time residents. While talking to a shop owner we found out that she was sixty years old and was one of the youngest residents! When I asked her about their school, she kind of laughed and explained that the school hasn’t been open for five years. According to her there has to be at least ten students from K through 12 before the state will provide a teacher. Before we left Skagway, we were polled by our guides to see how many people would be interested in a fried fish lunch. According to the wagon master of a different tour let us know that the lady in Hyder was closing her fish stand down the day before we arrived but she would stay open if there was enough interest. Needless to say, over twenty of us were hungry for more fresh fish.
The lady cooking the fish had a non-descript food trailer but the meal that came out the window was anything but. One of the biggest fish fillets I have ever seen on a sandwich and enough French fries to fill up anyone and all for only twenty dollars. Oh, did I mention the Halibut fillet was fresh caught. While talking to the owner I asked about the old Peterbuilt dump truck sitting across the road. It was her husband’s truck and the story she told was pretty amazing. Although he bought it to play with it still runs and he uses it to make trash runs. However, her interesting story was about a few years ago the was a major landslide in Canada and the Canadians were looking for anyone who owned a truck big enough to haul debris and fill. Her husband was interested but informed the authorities that his truck was not legal so he could not assist them. To his surprise the Canadians were so desperate for trucks they decommissioned the highway which allowed him to drive in Canada until the road was finished.
I guess Hyder knows that it is struggling for some new blood, but I have no idea what could stimulate growth. The only thing that the town has going for it is fact that the state has a park that allows visitors to access a boardwalk that provides an opportunity to observe bears fishing and feeding on salmon that are migrating up the river. The first time we went to see the bears we were shut out but still had a fun time talking to people and watching rangers do a fish survey. It was interesting to see how much fire power the rangers had with them. Of the five rangers I counted two side arms, a shotgun and what appeared to be a high-powered hunting rifle. I guess when one goes into a grizzly bear’s back yard one can never be over gunned. The second time we went to watch we were rewarded with three different bears. One was busy walking up and down the river and appeared to be grabbing a fish and just biting it and letting it go. According to a volunteer working there the bears are getting sick of salmon and were looking for the ones with roe in them.
We are leaving here for Prince George BC for our final stop of this fantastic tour. Hopefully I can find some good internet access and get some posts caught up. It is currently near the end of November and this post is about things we did in early September. I will work harder on getting more posts soon.