July 17, 2013 Alaska Ferry towards Prince Rupert

July 17, 2013

Got to the ferry terminal around 8:00AM.  55  degrees. Watched eagles while waiting to board.

The town looked nice as we pulled away.  

  Going to be a long trip since we have stops in Wrangell and Ketchican, so we have a cabin, 23B.  Watched scenery for a while as we made our way through the narrows – quite narrow in spots!  Amazing maneuverability for something so large!

We had to weave through this passage

Beautiful day, a little hazy but sunny and warm and everyone was outside.  It actually got hot inside.  Lovely scenery again and we didn’t see much wildlife – a few distant Orcas and three porpoises.  Talked with various folks, read, napped a little. Showered, did nails, etc. in relative luxury of cabin.

Stopped in Wrangell for 45 minutes.  Entertainment was watching the crew doing their various jobs.

Wrangell

More of the same.  Uploaded pictures and messed with them a bit.  Arrived in Ketchican around 7:45 and had two hours, so we got off the boat . The actual “downtown” was not within walking distance, so we had dinner at a nearby place called The Landing.  Greg is developing an affinity for Alaskan Amber beer.

The fog began to roll in and by departure at 9:45 it was draped over everything.  We decided to get some sleep, since 4:30 AM was our ETA for Prince Rupert.

These ferries are large and we have not had any rough waters – alleluia!

July 18, 2013

Arrived Prince Rupert at 4:30AM and had no problems disembarking.  Yeah – the Trek survived the ferry system!

First stop customs, which was no problem;  next stop McDonalds along with half the people from the ferry!  Checked out maps and plotted the day.  Prince Rupert was sizable, with gas stations, groceries, Walmart , as well as some nice parks, an airport as well as a pontoon boat airport.  Since it was so early not much was open, and we decided to move on.  Took Route 16, The Yellowhead Highway.  56 degrees and looks like it will be another nice day!

Followed 16 east out of town.  A large portion of this highway parallels the Skeena River, with various smaller rivers and streams joining in. Very pretty.

   On the other side of the highway is the railroad, which was the original reason Prince Rupert developed.  We spotted a black bear moseying down the tracks . There were fishermen everywhere, so we assume the salmon are running here.  Stopped at this tiny pioneer church in Usk.

Early morning catching up with us, so we stopped at a rest stop for a little cat nap.

Turned north on 37 to head for Stewart/Hyder.  Stopped at a small native village, Kitwanga, that had this old church and bell tower, as well as a group of totem poles.

There was a 74-year old native man outside the church who told us how his grandfather helped to build it.  He said his grandfather could not read and write but was a doctor in his village and he remembers collecting medicinal plants with him.  He told about surviving flesh-eating bacteria ( one in a million) and his near death experience.  He feels God saved him for a reason and wanted to share. I'm sure he had a wealth of interesting stories...

Next we stopped at a Salmon Enumeration Facility. 

After a half mile walk we found a few native men working.  One man explained what they were doing (counting, tagging and sampling)  but the coho run was just starting so not much happening. He told us of another spot “up the road” where we could see lots of sockeye salmon.  Different streams have different types of fish and the timing varies, so we have seen several different kinds of salmon “running” in different places.  Others haven’t begun to run yet. Thought this thistle was pretty.

Up the road was about an hour’s drive, just across one-laned, wooden Naas River Bridge. 

We turned down an unmarked gravel road, bumped and jostled along for a mile or two.  We guessed this was the spot and walked down an even worse road to find another fish-counting place.  A pleasant man there told us to continue down the road (walking) and we would find a native fish camp where they were dip-netting and smoking sockeye.

Natives have subsistence rights, so they can fish whenever and for as much as they want  They are allowed to dip-net, which I believe is illegal for other folks.  We watched a few men netting salmon and saw a small rock pond that they built along the stream to hold their catch.

There is a fishway (artificial falls) here and we saw some salmon jumping the falls.  Yes, that's a salmon, not a fly.

Next we hit 37A which goes to the tiny towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska.  On the way we passed Bear Glacier and some pretty awesome scenery.

Bear Glacier

 As we came into Stewart, we spotted three of our Roadtrek buddies and stopped to catch up with them - Dave and Janice, Bob and Cindy, and Jacqueline. They filled us in on the local stuff, since they have been here three days.

Seems the salmon haven’t reached Fish Creek yet, which is a prime bear-viewing area when the salmon are running.   Major disappointment, as the literature we read said beginning mid-July, but we are being told early August.  This is the only highway-accessible bear viewing area, as the others all require permits (some by lottery), air or boat transportation and big $$.

Fish creek - no fish/no bears

Boondocked with the others at an old quarry outside of town.

July 19, 2013  Friday

Began the day with a trip to Salmon Glacier.  17 miles of gravel road with some really rough and single lane.  The views were spectacular though.  Hundreds of waterfalls on the surrounding mountains,  the Salmon river below, and other streams and lakes. After 11 miles we finally we reached the toe (terminus) of the glacier.  Continued on to reach an overlook which shows much of the glacial field.  Some sights along the way -

There was a man there, known as The Bear Man, who sells his book, postcards and videos of bears and the glacier.  Interesting character.

More spectacular scenery on the return, waterfalls, canyons, lakes, streams, etc.

Then we came to an area where the road was blocked by equipment and there was a short, rutted, steep bypass.  We scraped bottom and had visions of major damage to the undercarriage.  When we got back to Stewart we went to the only service station and they put the Trek up on a rack and took a look.  One pretty bent bracket that was holding a tank and a crimpled metal heat deflector, but nothing major – whew!  Greg got the oil changed too while I walked the main street and bought a few cherries and 2 plums at a produce stand ($7.00). 

Main Street, Stewart

Much relieved, we stopped at the visitor’s center and then went to Seafood Express, a bus/restaurant that we’d read about in Travel & Leisure.  Food was good and fresh as Diana is the cook and her husband Joe a fisherman.  I had a seafood chowder and shrimp pasta salad,  Greg stayed with the halibut fish and chips.  Yum.

We headed back past Bear Glacier and down 37.  Saw this black bear munching on grass and flowers. 

Decided to stop back to see the  fish camp, and they were still catching many salmon.  A man we spoke to said they had caught 62 yesterday and today was a little slow but they had thirty-some already.  He said the fish that had a reddish tint were closer to spawning… they are all headed to Tatiana River and Meziadin Lake , just a few kilometers upstream.

Continued south to the YellowHead, with a brief stop at an Indian village to see a few more very old totem poles.

We stopped at a visitor center near New Hazelton which had a water and dump station and asked a  Canadian man doing the same about a place to Boondock. Oddly enough he was from Houston too - Houston, British Columbia. He told us of a nearby place called Anderson Flats that is a Provincial Park not quite developed yet, so we followed his directions and found a great spot between the mountains and a river.   A big buggy later, but nice views.