A journey to fill my soul

I hope this message finds you well. I’ve achieved the second element of this adventure that I was hoping for, and it is more special than I thought it would be.

I hope that you are currently in a peaceful place because I want to share a little zen moment with you before I begin this episode of Jim’s Travels….

If you can, please find a quiet place and turn the volume up on your device for just 25 seconds…I know you will enjoy.

This babbling brook is across from my place this evening, the other side looks like this….

If you could hear behind the babbling brook sound you would hear the sound of water rushing from below my location and an occasional chirp, or cry out. In reading I find that’s the sound of the glacier moving, there’s really no explanation for the sound, it’s just what glaciers sound like.

I need to rewind a bit here because reaching this location did take some work, and at times really rough driving.

Time line

For the first two weeks of August I had visitors, My daughter flew out on August 11 from Anchorage, while my wife was scheduled to fly out August 15 from Fairbanks. I did have a personal plan that I needed to stay on track for but when my Wife’s flight out on Friday was delayed until Saturday afternoon it put a little squeeze on my driving plan.

I’ve put on almost 1,200 miles in three days on sometimes very rough road while other roads were just slow. Each night I was on the hunt for the perfect free camp site.

Free Camps!

After the first full day of travel I found a location near Lake Laberge which is fed by the mighty Yukon River. As I pulled off I had to hold in the truck cab until a bear and two cubes moved out of the area. The next morning I woke to a moose blocking my drive up to the roadway.

Night two was far off the road lakeside in a location the fire department uses to pump water from. I was about 15 miles west of the Stewart-Cassiar highway, or highway 37, which was my following day travel route going south.

My third night was a gorgeous location on the side of a mountain ridge somewhere south of a location known as Jade City. Jade City is just what it says, jade, like jade stone.

This brings me to dream destination two…

Hyder, Alaska

Hyder, Alaska is an interesting place. You need to drive through Stewart, BC to reach this metropolis of at last count, 48 people. As many places around Alaska, it got its start as the result of mining and a port town. And what would any town be without a bar? Well, this place wouldn’t know cause it does have one which is an interesting place.

Oh yeah! I did stop in for a cold one, or two. Rainier is the cold one of choice. The gal in the picture owns the place which was started by her father in 1956. The walls, bar, well everything is covered in money literally from all over the world beginning from 1956. The actual port town, Stewart, BC, was once a dry town so the sailors all headed for the Glacier Inn for food and libation.

The real reason I stopped was food. I’ve been on the road and as always I thought a bar burger and beer sounded tasty. So sorry, I missed the line on the sign outside that crossed off food. But, of course there is a solution to every problem. The answer was, go over to her cousin’s place. I was walking for this adventure so it did take a bit of sole to complete this journey. This was the answer.

Fish & Chips it was…Third time for Haddock fish, delicious. She liked me, same name as her husband, son and nephew. Long conversation and another story from a lifelong resident. I was the only one there, plenty of time to chat.

So why Hyder?

I know that we all have our dream vacation. For some it’s a beach on an island with a cold one nearby. For others it’s a resort in some ritzy spa-type layout where people go to be noticed. For me, well, I guess the Arctic Ocean and Hyder, Alaska. There is more but hold tight for that.

First, you have to get here. I told you I was driving south on Hwy. 37, you’ll come to a turnoff road named Hwy 37a. The final 50 miles or so are truly unbelievably. This route does not disappoint, animals and glaciers in abundance.

I don’t know if this glacier has a name but it sure was beautiful to look at.

The river running off this glacier was white as snow.

Wildlife you say…

And these guys. Don’t ask me what I was thinking. They walked right next to the truck and of course I had the window open and camera in hand. When the first guy looked at me and snorted I knew I was out of my league. I moved on…

And then there were the moose and elk that I didn’t get a picture of, I’m driving!

Now, the answer as to why Hyder.

So what’s the deal with Hyder, Alaska you may say. Well, there’s the Salmon Glacier for one. It’s like no one knows this place exists, well, sorta. But there aren’t many tourists here. Maybe its general location is an issue. Look this place up on a map.

Drive through the city and 21 miles up a very rough, very steep trail, drive through the mining camps, literally through mining camps, you come to the Salmon Glacier.

A great good morning view

Of course I had to spend the night up here. It was cold, but that’s what heat is for. Leveling my rig was a bit of a challenge but I’m always up for a challenge.

And that’s not all!

Just on the north edge of Hyder is the Tongass National Forest, and more specifically, the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation.

Rolling through this park is a glacier runoff, a river that runs into a water inlet named the Portland Canal which runs to the Pacific Ocean. There’s a port in the small town of Stewart, British Columbia where ships come in to dock. The forestry service has built a raised walkway which protects visitors from the grizzlies that feed off the salmon. It’s the end of August and the bears are hungry. I arrived about 6:30am, hung out with the two park rangers, and about 1:30 this is what happened….

This bear hung out for almost 45 minutes. There is a bear research facility here, a truck with 3 biologist’s came, just Jim and these 5 ranger/biologists. What an absolutely amazing experience. I learned so much from these people, I can’t be thankful enough for their patience and time talking through and explaining the bear population and what there studies are for. The number of videos and photos I shot will fill my heart for a lifetime.

Time to keep moving

It’s Friday night when I post this. I have another full day to spend at the research center, I’ll make the best of it and maybe score another bear encounter.

What’s next?

I’m nowhere near completing my dream list. I’ll pull out early Sunday morning for about a 7-hour drive to Prince Rupert, BC. Why Prince Rupert you say? I’ve always wanted to cruise the inside passage along the Pacific coastline, so that’s what I’m doing. I’m scheduled to leave very early Monday morning, Jed, Ethyl (truck and camper) and me, for a 16-hour cruise on a ferry. With the very favorable currency exchange rate with Canada I really can’t afford to not do this. It was an easy sell to the wife when I explained the math, the cost to run the truck down to this destination would easily exceed the ferry cost. What’s the destination? Vancouver Island…I’ll arrive in the far north of the island at Port Hardy and spend about 10 days. I’ve got plans for at least 9 days but I need to figure out how to get off the island. Well, I know how to get off and where, but I don’t plan to spend any time in the south, that’s a trip in itself and I really don’t have the time. I’ll share more specifics as it plays out, so keep following…

Till next time

That’s it for this one, it is a long one but I’ve been busy and the Lord has provided. Thank you for reaching this point, as always I greatly appreciate your following. So, until next time…Peace ✌️