We made such good time driving the Cassiar Highway (37) from Watson Lake, YT, down to the Meziadin junction that we determined we could stop in to pay one last farewell to Alaska before getting too far out of range.

The drive into the Stewart/Hyder area is gorgeous and I’m fairly certain we would go back just to make that drive a few more times. Rushing rivers, soaring cliffs and mountains… glaciers right up in your face.. it was devine.

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The town of Stewart is a colorful place with a boardwalk to be envied through this amazing estuary. Sadly.. we were rained out through this with a very miserable dog who’s paws couldn’t manage to stay on the slats.

Across the border, just down the street, you enter into Hyder, Alaska, with it’s own waterfront point, marinas, nearly abandoned mining town…

…and a short drive into a national forest and the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation area. Word on the street is that it’s the best place to see bears eating spawning Chum and Pink Salmon.

There was a bear!!! Albeit.. in the fog.. about 30m away… in the evening. The pictures leave us wanting to upgrade our telephoto. A second one was spotted on the way back from fetching binoculars from the car. It walked under the boardwalk I was standing on to cross the road into the forest. Of course I only had my phone for that one.

You can see from just these few pictures that Jim finally got to experience the full majesty of Alaska weather where you get rain, sun, wind, and everything in between on rotation. Dressing in layers is an art form.

We spent the night in a clearing just up past the bear viewing area.. and then braved the drive to the toe of Salmon Glacier the next day.

The Milepost guidebook GROSSLY understated the condition of the road. Fog finally pushed us to turn around and make the journey back down. Rattled the rig (we are now glueing the screws back in that were loosened in that drive… ), rattled the teeth.. rattled the nerves..rattled my brain.

Regardless.. we loved this little nook of the world and hope to visit again.