Ghost Towns and Glaciers

Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder, Alaska are like a coin.  Stewart is the head and Hyder is the tail.  To get to these villages, you must travel 40 miles through scenic Bear Creek Canyon into the magnificent Coast Range mountains.  These mountains are snow capped for much of the year with waterfalls cascading down the mountainsides all along the way.  This summer has been particularly rainy for this area so the waterfalls were plentiful and large too.

Stewart and Hyder sit at the head of Portland Canal, a narrow saltwater fjord about 90 miles long.  The fjord forms a natural boundary between Canada and Alaska.  Stewart has a deep harbor and is Canada’s most northerly ice-free port.  Hyder became important in the late 1890s when gold and silver was discovered.  Hyder boomed as it became the access and supply support for the several mining companies that came to the area.  As with many places, the boom is followed by bust.  So it is with Stewart and Hyder.  Stewart has a population of 699 while Hyder has less than 100.  Still, tourists flood the area to enjoy hiking, climbing and viewing glaciers and bears.

We arrived at Stewart and headed to Bear River RV Park.  Alas, there were two caravans visiting and they were full.  We headed to Municipal Campground to find a place.  They had room available but because of the heavy rains, the sites were covered with water, not what we had hoped for.  Not to worry we were told, you can go to Hyder.  Now, Hyder is a mere two miles and a border crossing away.   The US side of the border is not manned but the Canadian side is manned 24-hours a day.  We found Camp Muk A Bout.  They had plenty of room and the sites were gravel with grass and mostly dry.  Good-o.

Neither of the two towns are anything to write home about.  Many of the businesses are closed and in the process of decaying and falling apart.  Actually, they both refer to themselves as ghost towns.  Hyder most especially refers to itself as a ghost town.  In addition, they presence of bears is not a might but a common site.  We were told it was not unusual to see bears crossing the roads even in “town”. 

We hoped that the rains would stop the next day at least for part of the day to give us a chance to explore.  There are ruins of some of the old mines to be seen, Salmon Glacier to be visited and the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation area to see as well.  Here are a few pictures of the general area.

Coast Range Mountains

There were Eagles all around.  If you look closely, you will see three Eagles.  One on the ground,  one on top of a left branch and one below and to the right on a log.  Oh how I wish I have a stronger lens at times like this.

Fish Creek flowed behind our campground and along the road up into the mountains.

With so much rain, moss covered much of the rock surface while evergreen trees tower above.

Waterfalls were all around us.  I could not get enough of looking at them and hearing the musical sounds they made.

One of many streams that gurgle over and around the rocks.  So much water all around.

There were many reflections pools for me to try and photograph.  I love the way the mountains rise above and within the water.  So peaceful.