The Cassiar Highway

13 July 2010
Tuesday


We hit a few construction areas today with some waiting but the skies were clear and blue and the air almost warm. Again the views were spectacular. Several people had told us that this road would be even better than the Alaska Highway and they were right.

We stopped in Jade City. Learned that 90% of the world's jade comes from right here. So of course, we played tourist and bought some stuff. The big chunk of raw jade just outside the shop was too big to fit into the van so we had to leave it.

After some research we decided to forgo the side trip to Telegraph Creek. It involved a 140-mile round trip on a dirt road with 20% grades and 180-degree hairpin curves.

Soon the highway we were on decided to become steep and curvy and just as hairy. But the scenery made up for it: lots of snow-capped mountains, roaring rivers and huge lakes. We were on one of those a-picture-around-every-corner roads again.

Between the #2 Bell-Irving Bridge and the #1 Bell-Irving Bridge we sighted NINE bears along the road: a mama, one big guy, several cubs and even a cinnamon bear. Best day so far.

We left the Cassiar Highway to take a spur road 32 miles into a narrow steep valley with rivers, and waterfalls and glaciers. One more time we crossed into Alaska and found ourselves in the "World's Friendliest Ghost Town" Hyder, Alaska. All the streets are dirt; there are no sidewalks, nor street signs for that matter. Eventually we found ourselves at the Run-A-Muck Campground where we met a retired Navy man and his wife from Maine who run the place in the Summer and return to Maine for the winter.

We splurged and ate dinner out at the Glacier Inn because the BUS was closed.