What do you do when the lights go out?

Never mind! But wait, we got ahead of ourselves.

We traveled down the Cassiar Highway from near Watson Lake to Iskut, BC. It was really a very pretty ride, and most of the road was good. There were also interesting signs that there was wildlife in the area, but all we saw was someones horses in the road. The RV Park was called Mountain Shadow RV Park, and in the morning very early, before we left, this was our view. There were three cinder cones from volcanoes that were very evident.

We left early in the morning, but were not successful in viewing wildlife. Might have something to do with the heat. By noon the temperature was near 80 degrees. On the internet, the weather was listed as an Orange Warning. But the daily forecast was for beautiful weather. It didn't make sense. But wait!

On the way down the canyon to Stewart, BC, we passed Bear Glacier. If you have seen "Insomnia" with Robin Williams, you saw this glacier. They built a house out on the lake in front of the glacier to use in the movie.

At the end of the road, you come to Stewart, British Columbia, drive about 2 miles down the road, and cross the border into Hyder, Alaska. There isn't a border crossing for the US, and when you come back to Stewart, you have to go through Canadian Customs, which is pretty easy because there is nowhere to go from Hyder, except back into Stewart. There isn't really much in Hyder, most of the stores have been closed down.

Now, back to the original question. What do you do in Hyder when the lights go out?

Answer: Not too much. Why did the lights go out you might ask? Remember the warning and the beautiful weather report? Well, the glaciers are melting quickly, so the glacial rivers are torrents. The road into Stewart is next to the river. During the night, the river eroded out the foundation under a pole, and the wires snapped. At first it was reported that the power would be on by noon, but that rumor didn't last long. The power didn't come on until sometime the next night.

So that meant that both towns were running on generators, if someone had one, and if not, then the store, restaurant, laundry, gift shop, or Visitor's Center didn't open. Most of the RV's have their own generators, so many people stayed inside in the AC! The road to Salmon Glacier had also washed out, so that wasn't possible either. But we had a good day to catch up on reading and puzzles and quilting.

You might even be wondering why people come to this place anyway. Well, probably not to see the Toaster Museum! (Which was also closed, but we peeked in the window. See, some people do have respect for antique toasters!)

They come to see the bears! There is the National Forest Service Fish Creek Bear Viewing Area. The salmon are running, and the bears come to catch the salmon. The Forest Service has built a deck platform, and you can go and be quite safe, and the bears ignore the people and their cameras. And it is so cool! Everyone sits or stands around being friendly and chatting, and suddenly a bear will come walking up the stream, or come out from under the deck from the woods and and wander into the stream for salmon. Everyone is pretty quiet, and there are lots of cameras going off, but it doesn't bother the bears. Mostly they are hungry and trying to catch the salmon.

Well, most of them are. But this is an interesting "couple" The male grizzly, the brown one, is trying to get the attentions of the black female. She is also a grizzly. That was something we didn't realize, that grizzlies can be black, too. Well, she isn't as interested in him as he is in her, so she pretty much ignores him. But maybe she is just playing hard to get!

There was one more bear that came, but the big male chases her away so that he can have the whole area for himself. She was forced to go into the bushes and eat berries until he left with his lady.

This is the boardwalk where everyone waits. Some people are there with really big cameras on tripods, but mostly everyone is very friendly and it is easy to get pictures. The bears are also very accommodating, and "work" the whole stream. Oh, and the salmon themselves are very interesting to watch. Some of them are about at the end of their life span, and are looking very tired.

This is the big guy taking a break. They really have to work pretty hard to get the salmon.

Sue's camera can take a video, and Jim was able to edit it enough to get it into the blog.

So, we now have to say good bye to Alaska. We were going to get the ferry in Prince Rupert and go to Ketchikan, but have done some reworking of the schedule. We are still going to Prince Rupert on our way south, and then on to Prince George and Washington.

Sue and Jim