Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 171

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 171

Canada

8/18/09 – 8/20/09 - Smithers/Moricetown

Updated Traditional Housing

Wouldn’t you know it?  We like it here!  We decide to stay a while.  The RV park is able to extend our stay. First thing – check out the sporting goods store to get salmon stamps and find out where the fishing spots are.  Smithers is a nice sized town that has an ‘old town’ section with an arty, upscale feel.  We found the sports store. We got our stamps and a list of three places to fish on the Bulkley, including a spot at the confluence of Trout Creek with the Bulkley River (also known as where the creek feeds the river). We decide to try the ‘downtown’ spot first.  The river front space that is open to the public is minimal.  We find the ‘green space park area’ at the side of a housing neighborhood and park at a narrow pullout with a path leading down to the river. We have to step down a rock river bank and cross an old riverbed to reach the water’s edge.  We fish and fish and fish.  We both spot a big, big black dog swimming across the river. The river is very wide and we watched and watched, eventually realizing that it is a big black bear – not a dog.  We’re amazed that it would choose this spot to cross and thankful that it was swimming to the opposite shore.  We are catching nothing and getting bored.  Two teenagers get their limit of pink salmon.  They tell us their secrets and still we can’t catch a fish.  After several hours we give up. 

Elusive White Black Bear? Smithers, BC

We heard about Babine Lake from a fellow fisherman and off we go to try and find it. We go back towards Tyree Lake, but turn at a sign that says Smithers Landing and Babine Lake.  Sam drives, we talk and I take pictures as we go.  I took some nice pictures of llamas or alpacas that were being raised, some nice foresty scenes, but it is taking us much longer than we expected to reach the lake.  We see an interesting sign announcing Chapman Lake and since Babine was nowhere to be seen, we opt for a side trip.  This lake is another example of a huge body of water that has good camping facilities and the information signs at water’s edge indicate that there are fish in the water.  Yet we did not see another person anywhere near the lake, let alone on it.  In fact we passed so few vehicles, we feel that this has all been readied just for us.  We fished briefly, but the shoreline was pretty reedy and it was getting darker. The fairly large islands in this lake add to the spectacular beauty as evening was flashing a colorful sunset.  Nary a bite, so we move on.  When we get back to the main road, we decide to get Brutilla’s opinion on travel destinations.  She talks us out of fishing Lake Babine.  She gave us good, lengthy directions that basically told me that you can’t get there from here.  We go back home, determined to search for far better fishing spots tomorrow.  

Looking For Fish

Tomorrow is here and our next spot to try was ‘Trout Village’. The girl at the sports store insisted that this was a great fishing spot, and easy to get to, once you found a place to park.  There was some road construction going on at the bridge that spans Trout Creek.  We first tried to get permission from the owner of the Trout Creek Village Resort to park in his lot.  We thought that he would have no objections as it looked like his Resort was closed for remodeling or something. No one could be found in any of the buildings.  We talked to one of the constructions workers parked on the property and he said that it would probably be ok to park on the road and walk down to the Bulkley River (located on the opposite side of the road from the Resort).  We parked and were unloading our poles, when a pickup pulled up in front of us and a man with ‘purpose’ written all through his demeanor approached me.  Turns out he was the owner of the Trout Creek Resort and he informed us that he owned all the property on both sides of the main highway, all the way down to the river and that his neighbor owned what he did not and we were not welcome to cross his property.  I apologized, advising him that we did not know that the riverside here was privately owned, as we were directed here by the Sports Store.  His tone immediately changed, but his mind did not and we were not allowed to fish here.  We left, thanking the distraught owner, as he had given us another fishing spot lead back in Moricetown.  I only wish he would remove his “Welcome to Trout Creek Village” signs. 

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 170

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 170

Canada

8/17/09  – Smithers, British Columbia

Netting On The Bulkley River

Due to the excessive cost of fishing the Skeena River (regular fishing license, special license to fish the Skeena, along with salmon stamp and steelhead stamp, even if you don’t plan to catch steelhead) we decide to move on down the road. Doug and Lila plan to go to Houston and check out the largest fly-casting rod.  Jim and Deb are going to meet friends that live on the Skeena River and maybe get a chance to look things over a little closer.  We are going to go until we decide to stop.

More Netting

Since we are through with the Cassiar Highway and on the Yellowhead Highway, I decide to set our new goal.  I choose Tyree Lake.  We follow the Skeena River through a few small villages, enjoying the scenery and the road.  At New Hazelton or South Hazelton or Hazelton (all three towns living near each other), the Skeena River takes a sharp left and leaves us.  A few miles later, the Bulkley River shows up to keep us company.  It is another very beautiful River, shades of glacier greens. We are able to pull over to the side of the road in Moricetown.  The river had entered a canyon just before entering town, and the view from this rest stop was fabulous. We looked down at the rocks below, where Indian fishermen were netting fish in this natural narrowing of the river. 

Darkness Making A Showing Again At Night

We had to travel a little further down the road to reach Lake Tyree.  We passed Trout Village.  When we make it to Smithers, we notice an RV Park attached to a golf course.  Sam stops and checks the price, as it has full hookup and free wifi.  We get back on the road and just on the other side of Smithers, we turn left to follow the signs to Tyree Lake. The Provincial Campground at this location is not close to the lake and the cost is the same as the RV Park in town.  The lake was set up for families with children, including a very nice playground, swimming area and beach. We chose full hookup.  Returning to Smithers, we get set up, check out the golf course, the town, and say goodnight.

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 169

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 169

Alaska - Canada

8/16/09 - Skeena River

Sam Down Under

Sam starts the day by cranking in our slide out. We then stop at the post office to mail another birthday card to Mom. We have still not found a reasonable way to keep in touch from Canada, so we use the US post office in Hyder.

I love you mom and thoughts of you are always with me.  I know that you would have loved many of the places we have been.  You would have ended up with fish oil in your eyes and I would have had to pull you off the fishing ramps.  Without a doubt, you would have made better clam chowder. Sam and I still brag about going hunting with you and you seeing the deer and shooting it, before we could even focus on it.  We love you Mom and look forward to seeing you soon. 

Saying Goodbye To Glaciers - Again

We backtrack the Hyder/Stewart access road. We are still seeking good weather. At the junction with the Cassiar Highway, we note that the Meziadin Lake boasts four different species of salmon that spawn in the bays and inlets of the lake.  This area grows big diddlywoahs.  We are not always traveling south, but sometimes east and sometimes west and sometimes north.  Sam and the maps assure me this is right, but feelings should count too.  We cross Nass River Bridge and its historical significance is written on an informational placard. We stop at a nice large rest stop, settling in next to several other rigs.  As we are walking about, a woman comes right up to me and starts talking.  It turns out that she and her husband (Deb and Jim), were parked close to us at the Klutina River Campground.  We talked more and it turns out that the couple we had met at Mountain Shadow and then at Hyder had parked next to them at Centennial Park in Soldotna and had become close friends. We are constantly amazed at the friendships that develope between travelers on the road. 

Roadside Totem Poles

We meander by more and more lakes, creeks, rivers.  A name that catches my interest is the name of a small Indian village: Gitanyow.  If anyone finds out why they picked this name (it is a renamed village), I would love to know.  This village has the largest number of standing totem poles.  Sam and I did not view any totem poles that were not on the main road.  I hope that we come back this way someday – as these cultural artifacts can be very artistic. As we turn off of the Cassiar Highway onto a section of the Yellowhead Highway, we see Jim and Deb. They motion us to pull into the gas station.  They had talked to a local boy about fishing in the Skeena River and was told that the pinks and silvers were running and we should all go fishing.  What else could we do? We backtrack a few miles and stay at the Kitwanga Campground, right next to next to Deb and Jim.  As they go in search of license information, we walk a rutted, gravel road that is suppose to lead to the Skeena River and the Kitwanga Enumeration Fence. This fence is a floating fence near the mouth of the river that directs incoming fish to areas where they can be viewed and counted. We did not make it all the way down.  We caught a ride in the back of a pickup to our camp. Lila and Doug saw all kinds of salmon, but the very large steelhead made a big impression on them.  We have an impromptu dinner when Jim and Deb return and call it a day.

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 168

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 168

Alaska

8/13/09-8/15/08  - Salmon Glacier, near Hyder, Alaska

Wide Spot

We head up the narrow, gravel road that goes to the Wildlife Viewing Area – but this time, we pass it.  We are in search of Salmon Glacier.  We know it is in this direction, but since we took our information books out of Brutus (and we do not tend to check them too closely anyway) that is all we know.  We drive up.  We drive up a narrow, windy gravel road.  We drive up a narrow, windy road that has no shoulders.  I like shoulders.  This narrow, windy, gravel road with no shoulders soon has nothing to one side of it.  I am not ready for this.  I close my eyes.  If I happen to open them, I do not look for vehicles coming the other direction. No, I want Sam to have good hearing in the years to come.  Instead, if I have to peek, I look up the sheer cliffs on my side.  Alpine grassy areas can be glimpsed if I look high enough, past all the crumbly looking rock at my side of the road.  I close my eyes a lot.  When Sam is able to find wide spots, he pulls over so I can look.  WOW! 

Salmon Glacier Climbing Mountain Range

Even though Sam offers to turn around, I tell him I want to go on.  The Salmon Glacier has started. It looks like a river or in some places the ice is so full of ground up mountain mass, that it looks like land.  It is amazing.  On and up it goes as we edge along the side of it, going up with it.  You would think that with the number of tourists that must come up this way, that this road would be a freeway.  I think that probably the inaccessible wilderness part, the great masses of snow, plus the perma-frost and all that gibberish, keeps this road and the view of this glacier, a unique experience.  Imagine seeing a glacier below you. The glacier looks like it is climbing the mountain range. Very long and wide, it rises and swooshes into a turn, up and away from the road onto a mountain range.  Viewed from the rest stop just before ‘summit’, the grandeur cannot be ignored.  Insignificant ones like us, can begin to unfurl our clinched fists and breath a few moments without  fear of slipping down onto or into the glacier from above.  It is vast.  The crevices are vast. Everything about this is vast.  Take a good camera, food/water, binoculars and blinders (if you are not the driver), to make this trip more enjoyable.  Be amazed!

Looking Down

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 167

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 167

Alaska

8/13/09-08/15/09 Hyder, Alaska

Part Of The Viewing Platform

Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area:  It is hard to believe that Camp Run-A-Muck is on the main street of town.  To get to the Fish Creek Wildlife place and Salmon Glacier you have to pass right by it.  We visited the viewing area several times while at Hyder.  The area is a raised wooden deck-platform that runs alongside Fish Creek at a location known as a favorite for bears.  All sorts of bears.  Lots of black, a rare grizzly and the rare ‘white’ bear.  Large Pink and Chum salmon fill the creek at this sight and attract bear, birds and people.  We did not see any bear, but got great pictures of a strange duck with her young, a pair of busy beaver behind us in a pond and watched the strange people.  Oops, we were there too.  Anyway, the viewers were from all around the world, some coming every year to capture pictures of the local bear population.  The white bear many seek are thought to be albino bear.  I think I also heard fish-fed bear are lighter in color, but bigger in girth.  I also think back to the ‘blonde’ grizzly cubs that stay that way until they are 4-5 years old.  Whatever – people sure mass to this area.  I have no idea where they are staying or if they ever leave the viewing site.  Sam and I see two large black bear – pictures taken – on the road just past the official viewing site.  We were able to watch them for some time before they lumbered into the brush. 

View Just Outside The Viewing Area