Friday, August 24, 2012 Stewart/Hyder & Vanderhoff

On Wednesday we drove to Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK. Both are on the spur highway off the Cassiar 39 miles. The attractions are the beautiful drive, bears, glaciers and food.  To the right is Bear Glacier on the drive to Stewart, BC.  Hyder, AK is 2 miles from Stewart.  Both are on the Portland Canal, 90 miles long, leading to the Pacific Ocean.  Improvements are being made to the harbor so that ferry service can return to the area.

Here's a view of the Fish Creek bear viewing area, part of Tongass National Forest.  There is 3 blocks of elevated walkway next to the stream and you can watch the bears feeding on the salmon that are spawning.  We made several trips to see bear.  We saw one at the viewing area and three on our way to the area.  We also saw one on the Cassiar spur.

This is the Grizzly that we saw at Fish Creek,  Notice the tags in her right ear.  She is a seven year old. She might be one of the three cubs that we saw here five years ago.
Two different species of salmon spawn here and give the bears plenty of food to help them fatten up for the winter hibernation.

Here's where we had dinner on Wednesday night.  It's just called "The Bus."  Same gal (the owner) was here five years ago.  Same good food. You can order Halibut or shrimp, fish chowder, and fries.  You order at the bus and eat off picnic tables in the building behind the bus. We went back on Thursday and bought some smoked and fresh salmon from their fish market next door.  Her husband is one of the few commercial fishermen in the area.