Hyder, my kinda town

A very unique town is Hyder AK. Isolated from the rest of the state by land, it does not even have a border crossing when coming in. It keeps time with British Columbia instead of the rest of Alaska except for the Post Office. It is truly an international town and fine with it. It is a ghost town that hasn't given up the ghost. Not a paved road in town. They have a boardwalk over Fish Creek so one can watch the bears feed, but the twice we went there we did not see any, even though there were plenty of Chum Salmon in the river. But what really makes this place spectacular is that it is surrounded by peaks with glaciers hanging off of most every one..

Cassiar Hwy, Boya Lake

The Cassiar Highway is the most westerly north south connector in Northern British Columbia. We decided to take it down instead of the Alaskan Highway after finding out it had now been paved for most of the way. Cassiar Highway runs west of the Skeena Mountains and east of the Coast Range. Our first stop turned out to be such a little piece of paradise we spent two nights there. Boya Lake carved out by glaciers and the bottom coated with marl, a mixture of silt and shell fragments creates an aquamarine lake. It also one of the few lakes in norther B.C. that are swimable. We immediately inflated our two person kayak and paddled in what seemed like water of the Bahamas with mountain scenery. We were surrounded by Pacific Loons and camped next door to a family of muskrats. This morning we drove down the deserted highway (a fire north of the campground cut off all traffic south) to Iskut ,tomorrow we will head back to the coast to the towns of Stewart/Hyder.

Yukon

Saturday we left Valdez to begin the trek south. I guess our "semiwaterproof" skins are showing we are in search of more sun. We crossed the Canadian border at Beaver Creek and decided to put in for the night there. The park we stayed at was not worth mentioning but the Visitor Center across the highway staffed by a friendly French Canadian "Giselle" was most helpful although planned next destination was Boya Provincial Park in British Columbia. The most important piece of information that Giselle gave us was that we were underestimating the distance to B.C. and we should think about an interim stop. What we didn't realize was that driving was going to be slower than what we were use to. We had been experiencing some frost heaveing and we were going to be seeing a lot more. The vistas for the drive from Beaver Creek were spectacular reminding us of Highway 50 across Nevada, but with small trees.

As luck would have it our "interim" stop turned out to be such a great spot we stayed and extra day. Just past the town of Teslin on Teslin Lake we found Dawson Peaks Resort Owned, built & operated by David Hett and Carolyn Allen this is a beautiful spot on Morley Bay. David and Carolyn appealed to our "do-it-yourself" attitude in designing and building a place that fits in well with all the comforts, built in a conscientious manner. for anyone thinking about traveling the Alaskan Highway I highly suggest a stop here.

Valdez

Valdez is a place that the drive in is worth the price of admission. We left Denali Park yesterday morning and drove across the Glenn Highway, staying last night at Little Nelchina Recreation Site, a no fee, no services,no other campers, wonderful spot on the Nelchina River. This morning as the sky finally cleared for awhile we drove down the Richardson Highway over Thompson Pass into Valdez. the views were absolutely breathtaking the whole way. Below is a sampling.

















































Valdez is a very busy fishing harbor, both sport and commercial, with boats like these going in and out every few minutes.

Denali pt.2

We went for our 8 hour bus ride into Denali Park today and though it was so overcast we saw little of the grand landscape we did make out well on the wildlife viewing. First off I have to mention that we did not take a "tour" bus, it was rather the shuttle bus to the Eielson Center 67 miles into the park. The difference is close to $100, but, if you take the early morning bus with the right driver (Craig Lewis in our case)you can see more than the "tour" buses usually do.



Many of the animals were too far from the bus to get good pics, but that is a good thing because this is truly a nature preserve with the park's strict rules of teaching the humans to respect the animals home. We were fortunate to see numerous sightings of Brown Bears, Caribou, Moose, Wolves and Dall Sheep. Especially gratifying was watching a mother wolf with 7 pups. Below is a selection of photos, with more eventually being placed in My Galleries

Denali pt. 1

We arrived in Denali National Park yesterday after the 8hour drive from Hope. We arranged for a shuttle bus ride into the park for Wed. morning. Today we visited the Visitor Center and became acclimated, the weather is still showery so not much hiking.

We did have a wonderful lunch at the Grande Denali Lodge with a most outstanding view (unfortunately the high mountains are in cloud cover but we could see the Denali Vally and the Nenana River.) The Grande Denali Lodge and The Denali Bluffs Hotel are owned by Old Harbor Native Corporation, one of 252 Native village corporations established by Congress in 1971 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

Hope

We came to Hope this morning just in time for the 23d annual Hope Wagontrail Run. The sense of community shined brightly through a rather drizzly day. The turnout was quite amazing for such a small village. All ages were represented with two runners over 80.














Likewise there was a crowd of supporters of all ages.









Yesterday we spent at Crescent Creek campground above Kenai Lake. This creek is a fly fishermans paradise primarily Dolly Vardens and Rainbows.
















In morning before leaving we caught sight of some Sand Hill Cranes in the marsh on Turnagain Arm