Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, Alaska- June 21, 2011

June 21, 2011-Tuesday- We got up early today and we’re doing a Salmon Glacier Self Guided Auto tour.  This is scary when you read the small print and it says, the road is not maintained, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!  If you know Dave, you know what he said, “That’s BS, let’s give it a try!  So off we go back into Alaska and on our way to Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area.  As we were driving into the parking lot, Reva spotted the bear.  The mother grizzly and her cub were eating along the creeks bank.  What a fantastic opportunity!!!  They walked up and down the bank eating and looking at us and us looking at them.  I might mention that they had a walkway enclosed at both ends and as they walked, we walked.  I hated to leave there but we had a ways to go to the Salmon Glacier and we had to move on.  I’m so excited that I got to see a Grizzly Bear!!  Besides that, we were there for an hour. 

Actually, the road is pretty good.  There are no guard rails, the road is narrow in some places, and when you’re on the edge, it’s a long ways down.  I’m not so sure that a guard rail would do any good here other than peace of mind.  About 13 miles in, we came to the Premier Border Crossing.  The international boundary between Alaska and B.C. was officially designated in 1903 by a commission established to resolve the Alaska-Canada Boundary dispute. 

There it is, the Salmon Glacier from the Summit and it’s so beautiful.  I can’t put words to the amazing views we are seeing.  Awesome!!!!Awesome!!!!Awesome!!!

We’re on our way back now and the mountains, valleys and waterfalls are soooooo beautiful.  We eventually arrived back at the bear viewing and we stopped for just a minute.  The bear weren’t there and we moved on and stopped for breakfast.  We told our waitress about the bear and she said, “You’re so lucky because the grizzly bear doesn’t usually come in there until July when the salmon start to run.  I told her that we saw one black bear, and when he saw us, he backed down the side of the road.   She laughed and said this is the bear you normally see at Fish Creek.  So lucky and amazing that we saw the grizzly today!!

We’ll pack up and get back on the road tomorrow.  I’d like to be in the lower 48 by Saturday. /Marilyn