July 20, 2014

We made it to Stewart/Hyder

This has been a banner day.  We left Smithers this morning after spending the night in a great municipal park.  Note to anyone RVing in BC; never pass up a visitor's center or a municipal park.  The visitors' centers are always manned with friendly helpful folks, and sometimes there is a community bake sale or some other local interest.  And some have free wifi.

We headed up the Cassiar Highway and turned right to get to Stewart/Hyder with the intention of seeing bears.  After several hours at Fish Creek, we saw two eagles fly by.  There had been a glacier flood about three days ago which washed all the salmon downstream.  If there are no salmon, there are no bears!!!!!  We, along with about 30 other folks persevered, and lo and behold, down under the highway bridge trudged a big beautiful golden brown grizzly bear.  He sauntered downstream and suddenly made a dive into the bushes on the side and came out with a good-sized salmon in his mouth.  Probably the only salmon in that part of the creek.  He promptly waded over to the far bank, climbed out of the water, and feasted on his take.  All making our several -hour wait worthwhile.

Having been very pleased with our stay at the municipal park in Smithers last night, we made a beeline for the municipal park in Stewart………………stellar decision.  We are tucked in amongst some lovely big evergreens with nary a sound of anything.  The office was closed so the sign said to pick a site and to check in with them in the morning.  This for almost half the price of a commercial park in the area, and the one we saw was right on the highway with nothing but bare gravel.

The end of the Cassair

We arrived at the junction of the Cassair and Alaska highway on Tuesday afternoon and made a side trip of 15 miles east to go to Watson Lake to replenish some supplies…………oooooh expensive.  We purchased the bare necessities and decided to pass up the $30 watermelon!  Back on the Alaska highway westward took us to the outskirts of Watson Lake and another provincial $12/night park.  All the mosquitoes were free!  Actually, they could have been much worse!  A very large park with just three or four sites taken so of course hardly a sound except for the occasional seaplane out on the lake.

Today's drive took us westward on the Alaska Highway until we took a cutoff across Highway 8 to Carcross to pick up Highway 2 south to Sitka.  There are only two RV parks in Sitka and the best one was full so we are parked right next to the marina (and the piers for the four cruise ships that were in port for the day) for a mere $38/night with no hookups, no water, and therefore no showers or bathrooms.  The town determined that the park's water supply might be contaminated so shut it down.  Not to be overwhelmed, we drove around the corner to the marina and used their showers and restrooms.

We did a bit of grocery shopping, stopped at the Red Onion for a beer and then came back to the campground for the night.  Good night.