Hyder Hotels
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Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Greetings from the Friendliest Little Ghost Town in Alaska, Hyder, AK!
After a very, very, long and grueling drive south on highway 37 we turned right and drove over to Stewart, BC, across the bridge, and into Alaska. Hyder to be precise, where it is very wet and somewhat dreary.
But first a word about our day on the road - We got our usual 8am start from Jade City, after a couple cups of free coffee (donations gratefully accepted). We left our "dry" camp site (no water, no electric, no sewer). The first 75 miles were not particularly notable, though the country was beautiful. One twenty mile stretch of gravel, but the rest was fairly easy traveling. We topped off the gas tank at Dease Lake and started out down the road, which soon turned to another stretch of gravel. About twelve miles down this gravel stretch, in a light rain, we came upon an accident - a bad accident. It had happened only minutes before and a man was running up the road, flagging down the traffic so there would not be another accident. It seems a van, carrying at least seven people, lost control on the wet gravel (mud), went into the left ditch and then spun and rolled, ending up facing the oncoming traffic in the right lane, upside down. Two were trapped in the upside down van, two were on the ground partially under the van, and another was on the ground on the opposite side of the van. Two or three were on their feet being attended to by the first ones on the scene. Soon the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) arrived and took over. As there were more than enough people in the way we returned to our vehicles to wait until the injured were taken care of and the road reopened. As I walked back to our truck and trailer I did a walk around inspection of everything and discovered I had a trailer tire with only atmospheric pressure - a flat! I, with some assistance from our traveling companions, changed the tire in the rain and mud, feeling very grateful that I discovered the flat before the tire was ruined or damage was done to the trailer.
After nearly two hours, the injured were transported in two ambulances and three others were taken away in an automobile. We learned that all had been removed from the wreckage and were alive. The initial report was that they did not think any of the injuries were life threatening. We were allowed to continue our journey. We drove much slower and more carefully, which was not hard to do as the road was awful! It really was an amazingly bad road, even by Missouri standards. The worst sections were under construction but the better ones should have been. About 5pm we hung a turn to the West, as planned, and drove the 42 miles to Stewart, BC, drove across a river, and we were at the Run-a-Muck RV Park, Hyder, Alaska, in site 13, with standing rain water on all sides! After getting the utility lines hooked up we fixed a stiff drink and settled in for the evening.
One of the reasons for coming to Hyder was the possibility of seeing bears. It seems they have a number of bleacher seats outside of town, overlooking a stream that is used by spawning salmon where the bears come to do their brand of fishing. Well, by the time we got situated, it was pouring rain and we did not venture out to watch the bears. Maybe in the morning...
It is after 9 o'clock, Pat is making zzz's and I think it is almost time to join her. Tomorrow we are on the road toward Vancouver, where we should arrive by Friday or Saturday. That's all folks!
Pat and Don
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