Prince Rupert to Babine Lake Rd: Stewart/Hyder

August 13, 2011

The Matanuska Ferry arrived on shore in Prince Rupert, Canada at 5:15am, which with the time change was really 4:15am, which means we really woke up at 3:45am to pack up and get through the jerky Canadian border patrol, which means that after a couple hours of riding in the front seat of i suppose scenic but cold and gloomy scenery, one of us turned into GrumpyPants, and after stopping at a gas station and standing in the rain and our credit cards declining and being asked if I had a status card (meaning = are you a first nation (Indian)?), I was ready to punch Canada in the face.

But, after a few hours of sleeping in the lethargy lounge in the back of the Ironhorse, I felt normal again, luckily for the two boys in the front, especially the one named Steve.

We decided to power drive back up to Stewart, BC / Hyder, Alaska since we missed it on the way up. (About 120 miles out the way).

We head up 17 miles of winding (nerve wrecking) gravel road up a steep mountain to Salmon Glacier. It was pretty impressive.

Even with unstable legs, Steve can’t resist standing on the edge to look at the view. Typical Steve with his nervous nelly wife standing nearby anxious and ready for him to come back to safety.

As cool as this was, it was inundated with Mosquitos, which was really weird because of the altitude and cold weather. Anyway, we drove down the mountain to a place called “Fish Creek” to watch bears and more salmon running/spawning.

We only saw one bear here but I think I saw a record high (12-15) on the road today.

So all this happens in Hyder, Alaska, population 100. We had to go back through the border to get to Stewart, BC, which turned out to be a great stop.

We got some groceries at a cute market with the best produce we’ve seen in a while.

Then stumbled across a gourmet food truck and had rhubarb tea, salad with creme brûlée goat cheese, sautéed zucchini and onions, three very delicious burgers, along with fresh hot homemade bread. The owner was like the Chef Neal of Alaska. And his coworker has been to Nola and loves Bayona and Uglesich!

We camped on Babine Lake Rd at a pullout tonight in the middle of a bunch of ranches because we couldn’t find the campground. Passed out after a long day.