Dease Lake, BC to Kitwanga, BC

We are still on the Cassiar Highway (H 37). We left Dease Lake at 6am because there were 30 Airstream Trailers there in a Caravan, and we wanted to get out before the Caravan. At least that’s why we thought we were leaving so early. I think the Lord had plans for us. About 10 miles South of the campground, we were flagged down by a young woman (in her 20’s) and her sister with a 2, 3, and 4 year old in the car. The temperatures were in the 30’s and they had been there all night without gas. We drove to the next town for gas, and waited for the store to open at 8am. The store owner’s boy friend drove the young woman back to her vehicle with 5 gallons of gas. We were the first people to stop to help her. They had had had an interesting experience with an Indian Woman that was an Indian Elder that didn’t help them but said and did some strange things that made them nervous. I think the Indian Woman was watching out for the sisters and the 3 toddlers, even though she did not help them.

We saw a moose and her calf on the way to get gas, but with our priorities on the women and children, we didn’t stop for pictures. We stopped for gas for ourselves in the town of Bell II. It was $105 for 22 gallons!!!! I think that is the worst that we have paid on the trip.
We took the side trip to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK. The road is called the Glacier Highway (H 37A) because there are so many glaciers on both sides of the road. The views are amazing. Stewart, BC sits at the confluence of the Bear River and the Salmon River at the Portland Canal. We figure there are bear in the Salmon River and salmon in the Bear River. There is a nice estuary in Stewart. You go though customs to get between Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK, but there is no U.S. Customs here, only Canadian Customs. Hyder has a long wooden bear viewing platform on the Salmon River. It is getting near the end of the salmon run season. We were really excited about seeing the bears, but the bears didn’t come out to see us today. From Hyder, there is a 26 mile road to Salmon Glacier which comes right up to the side of the road. You only have to step out your car door to walk on it, but we didn’t go. The 26 miles resembled Italian Bar Road, at it’s worst, a little too much for us today.

We went on to the town of Kitwanga, BC, where we spent the night. We did some research on Prince Rupert in order to decide if we would drive there tomorrow. We decided to skip it. The thing there that most interested Grant was the railroad museum. There was a salmon counting operation going on near our campground that night. The woman at the campground said it was a 20 minute walk. We walked about 15 minutes out and decided it was a little to remote given the number of bears we had seen locally. A truck drove by with two of the men doing the counting. They said that a mama grizzly and her 3 cubs had come up to them while they were counting. They scared her off with a horn. Glad we didn’t come across her on foot. We went back to the campground and got the truck and went out for a look at the salmon counting operation. The counting is being done by Gitanyow Fisheries. They guys doing the counting say their company is on Facebook.