Day 36: July 4th Stewart BC to Hyder AK to Smithers BC; 400 kms

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Today we headed to Hyder AK to view the glacier & grizzly bears feeding on the spawning salmon.  The trip to Hyder took all of five minutes.  The trip to the glacier took 3 hours!   Someone we questioned had said it was a 20 minute drive.  Boy, did they ever suck us in.

Hyder a unique little town.  It is completely surrounded by British Columbia.  The only way is by boat or the road we took.  There isn't a US boarder crossing; only a Canadian one when you leave Hyder.  The population of Hyder is probably less than 100.  Later in our trip we bumped into a fellow who had lived in Hyder 30 years ago.  The town consisted of 3 bars & a 100 people at that time.  The children were educated in Stewart BC because the town didn't have a school.  Believe me, it hasn't changed much, except now they have their own school now. Huh!

Lets step back in time.....1950? No, 2011!

The pavement ended abruptly under the sign welcoming us to Hyder.  A minefield of potholes covered the entire road.  Absolutely unbelievable!  Well, not really, when you consider the tax base.  There wasn't anything to do but to try & pick the best route.  Which holes look the deepest?  Okay, lets avoid that one.  Bam, bam! Opps, guessed wrong again. The bikes took a terrible pounding.   Even with my face shield closed, I winced as we picked out way through town.  Poor Suzie, I'm sorry.

After 20 minutes (it seemed much longer) we arrived at the Ranger Station adjacent to the river where the salmon spawn.  They had a long viewing area set up so you could watch the mother bears training the young ones to fish.  Only problem; no salmon so no bears.  We were one to two weeks to early. Damn!

Front row seats

Thank goodness as we progressed up the mountain the road improved; just your average gravel road.  Beside the road situation, the real reason it took so long to get to the top of the mountain was because we were stopping about every 300 feet to take pictures of the glacier.  It was about 8 kms long.   When we reached the top we were back in British Columbia!

The glacier goes in two directions here.

Who's afraid of heights?  Not me!

We celebrated the 4th of July in a Hyder pub with the locals before heading to Smithers BC in search of rear tire for Peter's bike.  The tire was well beyond its best before date.  We are worried that Peter could have a  blowout anytime!