October 2019 – Living the Dream

08/29 – 08/30/19 Towards the end of the Cassier Hwy we came across the town of Gitwangak or Kitwanga on the Map. It is the home of some of the oldest Totem Poles in Canada. These amazing carvings represent the different indigenous clans. We also stopped at a place called battle hill where Chief Nekt built a fortified village on top of this hill and would defend it by rolling spiked logs down on his enemies. We climbed the hill and were amazed at how many people were said to have lived in this village a the top of the hill as it did not seem that large. We drove on and finally made it to the end of the Cassier Hwy and found our way to a beautiful free campspot at Twin Falls Recreation Site outside of Smithers BC. This little area had beautiful trails and 4 level campsites with fire rings. We thought of our little caravan and how much Jim, Jackie, & Bob would have loved this site. We hiked up to the overlook of the falls and enjoyed a wonderful Scallop dinner cooked on the coals of the fire.

08/26 – 08/29/2019 We purchased passage on the ferry from Haines to Skagway in order to avoid having to backtrack. You know we couldn’t go on a trip without getting on the water at least once. While waiting in line for the ferry to begin loading the vehicles, I took Sierra for a last walk and ended up having to run to catch up with the Camper as it was pulling onto the ferry. We locked Sierra in the Camper and made our way up on deck. The ferry has cabins, showers, a café, numerous seating areas inside and out. There was a large solarium where many people gathered on lounge chairs and some folks even pitch tents on the deck using duct tape to secure them. The ride took just under an hour but it was nice to be back on the water even for a short ride. As we arrived in Skagway we saw three cruise ships docked and pulling off the ferry we found ourselves in a Disneyland like atmosphere with crowds of people wandering the streets and very little parking. We were finally able to find a parking spot and spent a few minutes among the crowds, gift shops and took a few pics, but feeling a bit overwhelmed we carried on north toward Whitehorse. and retraced our route back through part of the Yukon. We stopped a night at Squanga Lake Govt. Camp that had free firewood for our evening campfire. The next morning we continued on down to the Cassier Hwy 37. We found the Cassier to be in better condition than most of the Alaskan Hwy. As we traveled south we encountered a few black bears and moose enjoying the clover along the road. On the whole, We have seen more wildlife in Canada than in AK. We spent another night at Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park where we enjoyed a beautiful evening walk along the lake. The mushrooms were plentiful and the sunset over the water very pretty. Our Hyder destination is the most southern town in AK accessible by road. It is also known for Bear Viewing and we were still pumped about seeing bears from our time in Haines. As we drove Road 37A into Stewart, we passed quite a few large transport trucks carrying logs. The bay on the sister towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK was full of floating logs waiting for transport. We camped down the road from the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing area at Camp Runamuck where we caught up on laundry. We then went down and paid the fee to walk the boardwalk along fish creek where the chum and pink salmon were running so heavy you could almost walk across their backs. We enjoyed a wonderful halibut dinner at the Bus. And spent a couple of days visiting the viewing station but never saw a bear until we went to leave and saw one along the creek next to the parking lot and a mother and cub crossing the road down the way from the viewing station. Guess we really didn’t need to pay the fee but it goes to a good cause educating the public about the salmon, bears, and wolves of the area. We hit the bakery in Stewart on our way out of town the next morning and pressed on South.