No Bears, No Salmon

Sometimes you hit the jackpot, and sometimes you don't. Stewart and Hyder (BC and Alaska) was a "don't" for what I was hoping to see, but it was a jackpot for some other things.

The Stewart/Hyder valley

I went there hoping to see bears fishing for salmon, and to see salmon swimming up to spawn. No salmon, no bears. The milepost said you would see them in July and August; but what they meant was the end of July to the end of August. So I was too early. Bummer.  But now I know what a salmon stream looks like, and it is prettier than I had imagined. When I was in other parts of Alaska, I kept seeing glacier-water filled streams that were really dirty, and I couldn't imagine salmon swimming in that. But this one was clear as a bell, gravel on the bottom and just as pretty as you can imagine to look at.

I've been keeping a list of animals that I've seen, and birds and marine wildlife too. I'll publish a list when I get home, but I've posted pictures of everything I've seen so you can kind of figure that out!! In Hyder, I saw a new animal – a river otter. My grandson George loves river otters and goes to visit them frequently at the Woodland Park Zoo. The last time we were there together, he told me all about their new habitat.  So yesterday and the day before, when I was looking for salmon and bears, instead I watched a river otter fish up and down the river, and thought about George the whole time I was watching. He would have loved it!! They are kind of scary- looking critters, but so graceful in the water. 

Scary looking critter!!

People told me that while I was there, I had to drive the road to Salmon Glacier, but they didn't tell me what kind of road it was. Again, I made assumptions that were not true. I figured it would be a paved road, two lanes, with pretty views along the way.  Wrong…. It was a horrible gravel road, washboarded in many places, and it was cut out from the side of a cliff with big drop-offs on the side. There was construction in places, so along with fighting the gravel and the height (I HATE heights) I had to fight the trucks. The first time I tried it, I turned around part way up because it was so rough. But as I was coming down that time, I met a lot of regular cars going up.  That night I got to thinking about it and figured if they could do it, I could. Besides, if I really got into trouble (flat tire) people could help me out…right?  So the next day I decided to try it again, and made it to the first view spot of the glacier, then turned around and came back down. It was cloudy, so the views weren't as pretty as they might have been, and those drop-offs still freaked me out. But at least I made it most of the way!

You can see the drop-off.....

I spent several hours at the Fish Creek observation post (where the bears come, and where you can see the salmon), hoping for something.  I did have a very nice conversation with the ranger on duty, and another with the customs officer going back to Stewart.  But no bears, no salmon.  And rain all afternoon and night, so that I had to haul my stove to a covered porch to cook breakfast this morning!

Tonight I'm just west of Prince George BC, on my way to Jasper Provincial Park.  I'm hoping  to find a spot to camp – I didn't think about it being the weekend. So we'll see how that goes!  I met a couple at this campground who are doing a whirlwind trip to Alaska on motorcycles, and ended up inviting them to dinner. I had food that I was going to have to throw out, and they didn't have anything to eat and were going to town to the store, so we both benefited.  I didn't have to waste food, and they got a pretty good dinner (and they washed the dishes!!).  I love these serendipitous meetings! One of the many benefits of a trip like this!