I see ghost's and bear's, ok, mostly bears
The town that time forgot
Our next stop was in Stewart BC which is just across the border to Hyder Alaska. Hyder calls itself the friendliest ghost town in the Alaska, and when you drive in you kind of see why. First, there is no US Border station, you just drive right in. I guess it's because there really is not a lot there and the US part of the land is only a few miles long.
Map of the area
As you can see, there is not a lot of land that the town sits on, in fact if you drive up the only road heading north you end up driving by the working gold mine and guess what, your back in Canada.
Click on pictures to see full image
I read on line that the population was 87, but from the conversations we had with the few folks we did see, I would say closer to 25. Hyder is a modern example of how ghost towns come to be. At one time this was a busy sea port and Gold mine. While the mine is still operational, it is not at a level that it employs a lot of people.
Also, as you know Alaska is very remote. One way to get around is by the Marine Highway. According to the lady that runs the only store left, once Alaska stopped service to Hyder, the town started to die. Like most of the remaining residents, she leaves every September to the lower 48 states to escape the harsh winters. During those winters there may be only 20 people in Hyder.
Last store in Hyder
The drive to the glacier
What it does have is breathtaking nature, and a lot of bears! I'll cover the the drive and Jan can take the bears!
As a group we were doing a scavenger hunt during our trip. One of the animals we were looking for was a porcupine. As we drove up the mountain, we spotted this little guy there. Well it wasn't a porcupine, it was something that is not often seen, the Alaskan Marmot.
Only when Jan processed her pictures, and we did some research on the internet, did we find out how lucky we were to spot this little guy,
A rare sighting of an Alaskan Marmot
Jan and I at Salmon Glacier
Click on pictures to see full image
While we enjoyed our ride up the mountain, the real stars of the show were up next.
Bears, bears, and more bears…
Jan's Fun Facts
There’s this place in Hyder, AK, that’s called Fish Creek Wildlife observation, it’s the only place in Alaska where you can drive to see bears. It has a boardwalk so you can look down and see the bears feeding on salmon or just playing in the water. We were only in Stewart BC for a couple of days, but went over the border to Hyder three times to view the bears. It was a great way to end our wonderful Alaskan adventure.
We also put together this video, we hope you enjoy it
It's hard to believe, but our next blog will be the last of our blogs on our Adventure Caravan to Alaska. Along the way we have highlighted all the beautiful sights we have seen and in this last blog we will take a moment to highlight the great people we have traveled with. As always we hope you enjoyed the blog and until next time, we will see you on the road!
Please let us know what you think or any suggestions by emailing us.
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