We left Whitehorse in rain yesterday morning and it did not let up until noon today just north of Stewart BC/Hyder AK. The drive yesterday was over terrible roads made worse by the rain and mud that was everywhere!
After driving the last 265 miles of the ALCAN on our trip we turned south on Route 37, the Cassiar Highway to central British Columbia. The first 25 miles was under construction and in such bad shape that we almost turned around and returned to the ALCAN to get back to Prince George. Instead we continued south and ran into 35 miles of gravel road that was slick and pot holed. By the time we arrived in Dease Lake last night we didn’t think any more could happen until we checked our email and found out the meeting we were rushing back to Illinois for had been postponed!
Today we started out with a different frame of mind and enjoyed better weather (and the last 20 miles of bad road) as we drove through beautiful country down to Stewart BC/Hyder AK where we will spend a couple of nights at Bear Creek CG, a beautiful campground on the edge of Stewart. After we arrived in Hyder we learned that The Cassiar had been closed a couple of hours after we passed by when a culvert plugged and the flooding waters washed out the road.
The last 40 miles into Hyder/Stewart is on Spur 37A that travels west through the beautiful Coastal Mountain range and by Bear Glacier that calves into Bear Lake at road level. We saw one red fox and a black bear that we didn’t manage photos of.
Hyder Alaska is located in SE Alaska at the Head of the Portland Canal and was settled in the late 1800’s with the discovery of precious metals in the surrounding mountains and streams.
Stewart BC was settled to protect Canadian interests in the area and as the residence of theCanadians working in the area. Today Stewart is the larger of the two and provides the only land link for both towns to inland Canada via a spur of Route 37.
We spent the afternoon checking out both communities and climbing 22 miles of unimproved road to the top of Salmon Glacier, the largest glacier in Canada and fourth largest in North America.
The Salmon Glacier extends down the international border between the US and Canada and is accessible by The Salmon Glacier Road, a joint effort of the US Forest Service and Forest Renewal Canada. 
The glacier extends down from 4400 feet and its runoff creates the Salmon River. As the fourth largest glacier in North America it brings a lot of tourists to the area each summer.
Also on the road is a bear viewing area on Fish Creek operated by the US Forest Service. From mid-July through August grizzly and black bears feed on spawning salmon in the creek and draw thousands of spectators. We learned today that only a few salmon have arrived so far so the bears are few in number.We plan on spending a relaxing day here tomorrow checking out the bears.
