Day Drive - The Casier Highway to Hyder

Recorded July 15, 2009

From Skagway, with our tummies full we actually drove 150 miles out to the Alaskan Hwy south and the small town of Teslin. This is the one starch of highway that we did drive coming the other way. We really are on our way back to the lower 48 but we keep hearing about the bears in Hyder. They are not supposed to arrive until mid July when the salmon run and until this past week the salmon had not made a showing. Now we keep getting info. That the salmon are arriving perhaps slowly but there are some. Thus our side trip to Hyder and by the way there are a couple more glaciers there as well.

Our one night in Teslin was awful. We did not sleep much due to the mosquitoes. On the 11th of July we were up & on the road by 8am. Another driving day with no side trips, this time to Dease Lake nearly half way down the 450 miles of the Casiar Highway. The Casiar has a horrible reputation but we figured it could not be any worse then the roads we have already managed. This proved to be true. The first 200 miles were not so hot with gravel breaks, dirt areas & pot holes. There were some frost heaves but nothing like the ones between Tok & the Canadian boarder on the Alaskan Hwy, they were the worst!

We made one stop to break the action at the little Jade seller where they demonstrate and explain the local jade mining operation at the Prince Jade Mine. It turns out that 90% of the worlds jade is produced right here in Casiar Mountain Range of British Columbia. Much of it is exported to China.

We continued on after our break and as we approach the split off to Hyder we are fairly sure we have made it through all the bad roads of our trip. We were pleasantly surprised, as not only did the roads improve but the 30 mile descent into the valley was really beautiful with Bear Glacier, unusual ice formations and many waterfalls with the landscape different from what we had seen prior.

To arrive in Hyder, Alaska USA population 100, you need to come though Stewart, British Columbia Canada population 600 and a boarder crossing. The 100 folk in Hyder choose to go by BC time (same as Ca. time) except the U.S. Federal Post Office which has to go by Alaska (1 hour earlier) time. Confused yet?

As we cruise through Stewart we think OK a little tiny bit of civic pride. Lots of flower baskets, a few brightly painted store fronts, very small and not much to it except for industry all around, like logging.

We continue the 2 or so miles across the boarder into Hyder. OH MY GOD! Well we read that Hyder prides itself in being “The Nations Only Living Ghost Town” and it became immediately apparent. Of the 30 or 40 buildings visible from the main dirt road, in town probably half of them were boarded up. All but about 5 or 10 look like they should be torn down, unworthy of even shack status. We continued on to our campground, the only one with electric hook-ups. It is named aptly Camp Run-A-Muck. Need I say more? As we pulled in a skinny elderly woman came running up to me and asked me if I wanted to see a bear. Bill was maneuvering the rig into position so I tentatively said yes only giving her half my attention. She then whirled around and pointed across the street where on the second floor and at the door of the garage apartment a black bear was being fed by the female occupant. The woman received a major tong lashing from the woman for sharing her secret as I think she was afraid we would come charging across with cameras in hand. I did not, but was tempted in theory. I watched while Mr. Bear ate his/her lunch and walked down the stairs and back into the woods.

Hyder, what can I say? We spent some time talking with the proprietors of the various businesses and found out that this is a town full of some odd ducks many of whom are from California. Big surprise! Most of the ones we talked to have lived here for many years and do not intend to leave. The grocery store sells a box of salt for over $4 and an everyday bag of bagels for $5.99. The cigar smoking proprietor of the general store/pond shop was full of information on why all Californians should move to Alaska. The owner of the Boarder Gallery was a most normal woman and very helpful with local historical and gave us precise answers to all our questions. As we found out later Hyder is the gateway to the most beautiful 20 mile drive to a majestic glacier of all the dozen or so glaciers we have seen on this trip.

We drove the 4 miles out to the bear viewing area at Fish Creek, an elaborate nearly 100 yard long wood walking structure designed to keep people & bears apart. We saw only beaver, eagle and salmon. We did see the butt end of one bear as he was leaving when we arrived. This was true of our return attempt that evening. No bear.

Of the 3 funky restaurants in Hyder “The Bus” was recommended but was closed. It is an old bus, with a few rough wood tables out front. The gal who owns the joint is said to be married to a fisherman and thus comes the freshest fish & chips in all Alaska. We ended up at the Glacier Inn which served a tasty meal of halibut bites. This place has two interesting thing in its favor. It first has been the backdrop for some movies like a 1991 forgettable “Leaving Normal” in which it was the Eternity Bar. Secondly, the Glacier Inn is a 1955 building wallpapered in CASH! There is a lot of wall area in this place and the walls are covered in, what is counted up to be $80,000 in ones, fives, tens, twenties even some fifties & hundreds! Now we have seen two other bars plastered in money on our trip, the Howling Dog Saloon in Fairbanks and the Salty Dog in Homer but the Glacier Inn has to be the original. One 40’ to 50’ wall had 3 layers of panels covering it with cash. The ones on the button were nearly black with age. Oh and by the way they all have felt pen notes on them and more then half are Canadian as well Canada is all around right.

Ok well day two in Hyder continues next….

Tuesday we decide to stay an extra day and give the bears another chance to meet us and also take a ride up the 20 dirt miles to Salmon Glacier just because Susie, the Run-A-Muck RV Park manager or owner, said it made the Bear Glacier that we saw as we drove into Hyder “look like a little ice cube.” Well we started out too early because we had a beautiful ride & did the driving tour but as we started to climb we were so deep into the clouds we were not going to see anything at all. We all had a good laugh because like the bear, the glacier did not want any part of us. In the afternoon Bill & Linda returned for another try with clear skis and came back with such excitement that first Bill said it beat Niagara Falls in spectacle and then they promptly insisted on lending their car to 4 motorcyclists to make the 20 dirt mile quest to see this spectacle. With encouragement from the Moorhead’s, Bill & I went to have a look. At 6:30pm we took off. This was the perfect time of the day the sun was low the shadows were dramatic & because we had been up there before we new the road and whereto stop. The Salmon Glacier was Majestic. It was also massive. No picture could possibly do it justice. You really do stand there in amazement at the beauty of it. This experience alone is worth enduring the unusual personalities of Hyder.

In the simply spoken words of my husband Bill Dickey as we crossed the boarder out of Hyder, Alaska for the final time this morning at 9:30 AM “That place was a dump!” I sit here enjoying the drive back up the beautiful 30 mile canyon out of Hyder. A question keeps bugging me, why do all the really beautiful places attract the screwballs & misfits?