August 7 in Hyder, Alaska - Our last Alaska outpost. Boo Hoo!!!

Welcome to Hyder

 We left Jade City and drove on to Hyder. We had to again cross the Canadian border to arrive here. This town is a lone outpost on the backside of the Misty Fjord mountains. It is at the end of the Portland Canal, a long 12 hour/ 120 mile boat ride around to Ketchikan, Alaska. It is only 2.3 miles by the only road to Stewart, B.C., Canada. However everything is so much more expensive on that side and any supplies brought in by road have to go through the customs check and duty, etc. paid, so that the Hyder residents prefer to order things in from Ketchikan. Thus all their supplies and even their mail comes in by float plane. They like to call themselves "The friendliest ghost town in Alaska."  Only 100 residents.

Hyder to left of line on mountain, Stewart to the right.

Run-A-Muk Campground

Very alpine looking

The drive down Stewart-Hyder access road was another gorgeous drive. We were back among very tall mountains which were still snowcapped and had glaciers coming down off of ice fields.

3 waterfalls

One of several Glaciers

We had just had several long days so we treated ourselves to a campground in Hyder. We decided to go to the Run-A-Muck campground. When we went to check in the owner offered us a senior discount if we would stay for 2 days. SOLD! This was a very nice place regardless of its name. They had Wi-Fi and we were able to get the blog updated and sent out emails. we had one from some friends we had last seen at the Russian River on the Kenai. John and Karen were trying to find out where we were so I wrote them back. The next morning they showed up at our camper. They were staying about 6 miles down the road in a campground in Stewart. What a wonderful surprise. 

They were heading over to the Bear Observation Viewpoint which Hyder is known for. Salmon use the Fish Creek for their spawning grounds so bears are frequent visitors there. No bears were there at the time so we drove back into the village to have lunch at "The Bus". Another quirky place with great food.

John and Karen

After lunch we explored the village. We drove out to the town dock where the float planes come in. On the way back towards town we looked up on the hill and saw the demarcation line down the mountain that divides Canada and Stewart. Apparently the 2 countries take turns each year hacking out the overgrowth on the line.

The Bus

Spawning Salmon

After we got back to our campground we said our goodbyes (again) to John and Karen. They were continuing South while we were going to spend one more night in Hyder. After we had dinner we drve back to the Bear Observation Platform. We were in luck as there was a big grizzly having his dinner.  We spent about an hour there watching him. We can't seem to get our fill of watching bears in the wild.

This was a big bear.




We left Hyder yesterday. We have fallen in love with Alaska and it was difficult for us to leave our last Alaska stop. We again crossed the border and came into the town of Smithers, British Columbia. This town is very pretty and has a Norwegian/Swiss influence. We were able to camp outside the Visitors Center last night. It is a beautiful, sunny day today so we may do some exploring and spend another night here.