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| Stewart and Hyder
are on a spur of the Cassiar Highway, at the head of Portland Canal, a narrow
saltwater fjord approximately 90 miles long. The fjord forms a natural boundary
between Alaska and Canada. Stewart has a deep harbor and boasts of being
Canada's most northerly ice-free port. Hyder boomed with the discovery of
rich silver veins in the upper Salmon River basin in 1917-1918. Hundreds
of pilings which supported structures during this boom period are visible
on the tidal flats at Hyder. Hyder became an access and supply point for
the mines, while Stewart served as the center for Canadian mining activity,
Mining ceased in 1956 with the exception of the Granduc Copper Mine which
operated until 1984. Today the economy is driven by forestry, mining and
tourism. |
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The "ghost"
town of Hyder
- only a few stores were open, such as Dollie's Photo Shop - |
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| Below: Day 1 in Hyder!
Fish Creek viewing area on Salmon Glacier Road is operated by the U.S. Forestry
Service. Both grizzly and black bears can be observed and photographed here
as they fish for chum and pink salmon in the shallow waters of Fish Creek
and Marx Creek from mid-July through September. Viewing is from a boardwalk
viewing area - shown below. There is a daily charge per person. |
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| Below: View from the bridge. When
the two RV Gypsies arrived at the bridge, there were a lot of professional
photographers with big fancy cameras set up facing this side of the bridge
so that is where the two RV Gypsies thought the bears would come from. Wrong
- they came from the street! |
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Below: The
view from same side of bridge
as above but in the other direction |
Below:
ducks swimming on the
other side of the bridge |
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| Below; Around the
corner, just past the street, scientists were lining up the salmon, counting,
and weighing them. It is said by some that these humans then leave their
scent in the water and that could discourage bears from coming around. |
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Below: Salmon in the river
- waiting for the bears to eat them |
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Below: Here comes bear
#1 - a grizzly bear, just walking down the street |
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Below:
The grizzly crossed the bridge, and glanced down into the river, then
continued down the road a bit before walking through the trees and into
the river. Everyone on the bridge ran to the far end of the bridge to
take photographs. |
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Below: Then the grizzly
started running upstream towards the bridge |
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| Below; Then the grizzly
turned and ran back down the river - just playing and splashing and having
lots of fun. Meanwhile, everyone on the bridge ran and back and forth, following
the grizzly. It was really funny! |
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| Oops - there he goes again - in the other direction
- and so the people on the bridge also ran and scrambled for the best view
point, once again. |
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Below:
Now the grizzly turned again and went to the part of the river just beyond
the bridge where it caught a salmon and ate it. |
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Below:
Now that the grizzly has eaten, he decided to have more fun running and
splashing in the river. |
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| Karen Duquette took
lots more photos of this bear, and she also took a real nice video. So now
the two RV Gypsies decided to drive up the road towards Salmon Glacier. |
Below: A bigger
grizzly bear (#2) upstream from the bridge |
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| Below; The bear kept
walking down the river, and when it went behind the bush, Karen Duquette
took the opportunity to photograph the river and her car on the muddy road
beside the river. |
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Below: "The bear
is back in view", said Lee Duquette. |
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Then the two RV Gypsies
continued driving up the road to see Salmon Glacier. |
