New Hazelton to home

We drove from New Hazelton to home in exactly 12.5 hours to the minute uneventfully.

Kms - 1197
Total Kms for the trip - 10183

Nisga'a Lava Beds

What glorious luck that we awoke to another stunning day!

We ventured back north today after sliding slightly westward on the map. Our time in terrace was so epic that I won't overwhelm you with the details. From that northern gem we travelled north to the nisga'a lava beds for some exploring. It is mind boggling to think of the havoc that this little cone caused over two hundred years ago. In some places the lava is some 30 meters deep. Amazing. The photo ops were endless... Tomorrow we come home!

km- 351

Hyder to New Hazelton

We drove from Hyder to New Hazelton today and managed to smuggle beer across the border with a smile and a bat of the eyelashes at the border guard. We passed through 5 first nation villages to admire their totem poles and talk to the locals. Besides that it was a beautiful hot day and we got nice tans. Tomorrow we head up to the lava flows and then home on Wednesday.

Km - 330



Kispiox


'Ksan

Hyder

Well not much to say about today...

We left off in Hyder Alaska, you know, where you get hyderized. For those of you that have been with me long enough you will remember mr. Richard Simon, the capp and business teacher from brookswood. Long long ago in a high school far far away he talked about the picturesque town of hyder and their blessed grain alcohol. Last night, after years of preparations, Fiona and I got hyderized. We even have wallet sized certificates and t-shirts to prove it. Sidenote- the lovable character on the front of the shirt looks a lot like my dad.

Today we ventured back across the scary border to the great land of Canada to listen to a lecture about global warming. These types of talks are always hard to hear as I find them both sad and infuriating. Luckily we can feel slightly better about ourselves because we have low flow shower heads... But how much gas have we burned this trip? The talk was very informative and the images of the retreating glaciers were startling. The naturist from France brought interesting European perspectives as well as stunning photographs from his travels to both poles.

We spent the rest of our day scurrying up and down the glacier highway. Salmon glacier is as immense as it is amazing. Our photographs will never do its beauty justice, nor for that matter will my words. Better let the devil digital do the talking. That way you can blame it and not me. We went as far north as granduc mine to check out another glacier and capture it on stunning velvia 50/100 before washing our dusty dusty car and stopping into to Stewart's museum. Have you ever wondered where Canada's nicest woman lives? Stewart. She was so full of pleasant. Almost sickening to realize that in comparison to her, I'm the Stalin of niceness.

Tonight we change film and eat fudge from the internationally famous hungry bear fudge lady!

Km - 116

View from Hyder towards Stewart


Berendon Glacier




Salmon Glacier in the sun




Hyderized


Scary Bridge

Iskut to Stewart and Hyder

We drove further down the Stewart Cassiar highway today and arrived in Stewart a small town on the coast in between mountains and glaciers. It is a quaint town with the least helpful and most surly tourist info girl to date. She literally threw a brochure at us when we asked what there was to do and stated, “It’s all there.” We had a good laugh at this and went on to read the brochures for Abbotsford and Langley as we were curious what they had found to write about. It turns out Abbotsford looks quite fun in brochure form. We explored the town for a bit and drove on a few kms to Hyder which is in Alaska and is where we are staying. Hyder has named itself, “The happiest ghost town in Alaska” and it is. Most of the shops are closed but it has a very friendly atmosphere. We drove up a dirt road to look at the Salmon Glacier which was spectacular and I expect we will be going up again tomorrow. There is also a place to view grizzlies along a salmon spawning stream. Devon was very fearful of this option despite it being in a raised and enclosed boardwalk but I have managed to convince him that they are cute and cuddly and only maul the slow and elderly. It turns out there was only one bear because the salmon are late running this season so we will try again tomorrow and perhaps Devon will flush the bears out for me and everyone else to photograph. Tonight we get Hyderized which I expect will be pretty entertaining and convenient as it is in our hotel, not very far to stumble home.

Kms – 400
Animals – grizzly, black bear, various small things





Bear Glacier




Salmon Glacier


Me photoing Salmon Glacier


Hyder

Watson Lake to Iskut

After a restless night under the stars in Watson Lake we have motored down the Stewart Cassiar highway to Iskut. We're staying at the quaint red goat lodge which backs onto a stunning lake near some extinct volcanoes. The sun is threatening to come out and we are welcoming the peace and quiet after a couple of long driving days. A little r and r on our vacation!

Next up is the seething metropolis of Hyder home to glaciers and moonshine, if we don't update the blog you get the idea of what might have happened.

Things we have learned about the Yukon:
1.) If the map says the highway is paved there is a 100% chance it is not
2.) We can fit 18 Yukon beer in one wheel well
3.) No one here is in a rush to get anywhere or get anything done
4.) Wifi is only able to support one computer at a time in order not to fail miserably
5.) Growlers!
6.) Smoking is a territorial hobby
7.) People may think you are from Hollywood if you have a large camera
8.) All food comes in burger and fries form only
9.) Dust is a fact of life
10.) RVers are very scared of gravel and drive accordingly

Kms - 330

Whitehorse to Watson Lake

We drove to Watson Lake today and are spending our last night camping here. Tomorrow we head back into BC and down the Stewart Cassiar to Iskut. We found out that the Top of the World highway is still closed and there are many people who are stranded on it on bridges and under 4 feet of water. I guess we're ok about not being able to drive it.

Km- 500