Hyder, Alaska and Salmon Glacier (Post # 32)

July 19

Hyder is nicknamed the "The Friendliest Ghost Town in Alaska.  Some of the buildings, even the ones that are inhabited, look like they have been around a long time.  It was nothing like Skagway even though there are a lot of RVs in and out of here.  We enjoyed our day here very much.

 We got up early and went to the wildlife viewing area to look for bears.  It was such a beautiful morning even though it was very chilly.

 These are bear pelts on display at the viewing center.  

 These are the claws on a grizzly bear.  Compare them to the size of my hand.

 These are black bear claws compared to Paul's hand.

 It's a very peaceful place here even though we didn't see any bears.  

We did see this mama duck and her baby.

 We didn't see any bears so we decided to ride the seventeen miles up to Salmon Glacier.  The thing about this, though, is that it is seventeen miles of dirt road, much of it full of pot holes and rocks.  There were many beautiful waterfalls, too.

 Our first glimpse of Salmon Glacier.

This little guy came out to greet us! We think it is a baby wolverine, but we aren't certain.  We saw some larger ones, too, but they were too fast for us to get pictures of them.

 

Beautiful reflection!

We went back into town and ate lunch and did some shopping and posted the pictures and blog from yesterday.  After a while we went back to the viewing station and took another walk down the boardwalk to look for bears.  Viewers must stay on the boardwalk for their own protection.  Several places along the boardwalk the walls were much higher than where I'm standing below.  There were trees close by these higher walls so I'm assuming it was because of bears climbing the trees.  It had started raining by this time so we were glad we'd gone to the glacier in the morning.  I would not have wanted to be on that treacherous road in the rain.

So quiet and beautiful.  I could have sat here, even in the rain, all day. 

We are sitting in downtown Stewart, BC, this morning using their internet, posting the pictures and blog.  Our trip though customs to get back into Canada this morning was a little more eventful than usual.  Up until this morning's crossing we have been sailing through these many custom checks without a hitch.  Not this morning.  They searched the RV.  Yep!  They were very nice, though, and so were we.  And, of course, they didn't find anything.  We're headed back down Stewart/Hyder Highway, to the Cassiar, and then to the Yellowhead Highway toward Smithers.  We'll start looking for a place to boondock around this area. The sun is shining this morning! God is good!