Bear Alley - Highway 37 to Stewart/Hyder Alaska
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2008
1
186
Trip End
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Stewart BC,
Canada
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
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Highway 37 -- The Stewart Cassiar Highway
I am driving west across northern British Columbia along the Highway 16, the Yellowhead Highway. My destination is Prince Rupert where I will be joining Barbara.
Near the town of Kitwanga is the intersection of Highways 16 and 37 - the Stewart Cassiar Highway. There is a sign --NORTH TO ALASKA --Hyder, Alaska 240 km --which certainly catches one's attention.
This is an opportunity I cannot resist and after a coffee and muffin at the Petro
Canada station, I was on my way through some beautiful, beautiful mountain scenery on a lovely autumn afternoon with two hours of daylight left.
It was time to slide back the sun roof, put on some great music and follow the new black ribbon of an asphalt road through the sea of colorful foliage and with adrenaline flowing at the prospects of going to Alaska!
It was not only Alaska because two more attractions along this route are the Bear Glacier 201 km and the historic town of Stewart, BC 240 km, just next to Hyder, Alaska.
Well it also became evident that adrenalin would be flowing for another reason.
01-from Kitwanga to Hyder, Alaska
It was not long before I saw my first black bear which of course was an occasion for bringing the car to a sudden stop and for photos to be taken from the relative safety of the car. Little did I know that this routine would repeat itself seven times on the way up and seven times on the way down. It was thus that the name BEAR ALLEY came into being.
In all my other many travels in British Columbia over the space of 4 months, I had seen one ...yes, one bear from afar.
Here in a total drive of six hours(up and down)I was to see a total of 14 black bears.
I was in bear haven!
Shortly after staring my road trip along Highway 37 I encountered an ominous sign "No gas for 140 km". Not only was there no gas but there was little evident of civilization. Landmarks along the way were the crossing the Skeena River,BC's second largest river, passing a sign for Nisg'a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park and then crossing the Nass River, all the while soaking in the bears and the beautiful autumn scenery, I arrived at Maziadin Junction.
Hopes of another cup of coffee were dashed as the only general store in Maziadin Junction was closed. Even the gas outlet was closed so for anyone relying on the aforementioned sign indicating no gasoline for 120 km would be out of luck until tomorrow,
Highway 37 continues from here all the way to the Yukon border. However to get to Stewart BC/Hyder, Alaska I turn west at this point along Highway 37A.
The strength and intensity of the scenery picks up even more on this beautiful stretch of road as I wind my way over Bear River Pass in the spectacular Coast Mountains.
02-On Highway 16, approaching 37
Unfortunately it is starting to get dark but I arrive at majestic Bear Glacier just as night begins to settle in. In the dusk the brilliance of the white glacier still makes for an impressive sight and memories of the Columbia Icefied comes to mind, not to mention the powerful glaciers I saw in February in Argentina. I later found out from a photo in the lobby of the King Edward Hotel that a scene from the movie Insomnia was shot near Strohn Lake, the little lake at the foot of the glacier.My arrival in Stewart is now in complete darkness but that did not matter since I had just completed one of the most exciting drives in a long time.
It was with anticipation that I went to bed thinking about what was to come tomorrow, with Alaska only minutes away.
In closing I have to return to the bear theme.
As I mentioned on my way back the next day I also saw seven black bears but the most amazing bear sighting was just west of Kitwanga Junction along Highway 16 where I saw a grizzly bear sitting on the CN railway tracks.
I had never seen an actual grizzly before but there was no mistaking that this monster,just by its sheer size and concave face, was a grizzly.
I was so excited that my attempts to take a photo came to naught before the animal ambled into the adjoining forest.
It would have been a great photo.
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