We first set foot in Alaska a few days earlier than originally planned, thanks to our detour up the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. And crossing the border was a breeze – the US doesn’t even maintain a border patrol station here (the building on the left in the photo is Canada’s Customs & Immigration, coming back the other way – it’s manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if you can believe it. I guess Canadians are even more worried about the riffraff getting in than we are).
So yep, we just waltzed right into Hyder, Alaska, population 100 (give or take). Despite it’s gold-mining past there is, to be honest, not much here these days except a few hardy residents and one of the best places for bear-watching in all of Alaska. (Too bad for us that we are about a month early to catch the salmon run at Fish Creek – no bears today!) One item of note is that the pavement ends at the border – all the roads in Hyder are strictly gravel, no fancy-pants asphalt here!
Our guide book calls the town the “Friendliest Little Ghost Town in Alaska”. As you drive down the main street (there’s pretty much just the one) you see the shells of old buildings and wonder if there’s something inside, or if the place was abandoned long ago.
We attempted to drive to the Salmon Glacier, which is about 20 miles down the (gravel) road from Hyder. Luckily for us, there was construction on the road, reducing it to just one lane. While we waited for our turn, the friendly stop-sign attendant started up a conversation with us about our van (she and her husband want a Sprinter, too). She mentioned that the road to the Salmon Glacier just opened yesterday, and that there was still a lot of snow and avalanche activity. “The road is just carved into the side of the mountain,” she warned, “and there’s about a thousand foot drop on one side. If you went over, you’d never be found.” Well, her dire warning gave us pause, so we only went a few more miles before we turned around and headed back into Hyder. We had a late breakfast at the Glacier Inn to celebrate our near-brush with death.
The Glacier Inn serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner and is one of only three bars in Hyder (the town boasts one bar per 33 residents). It’s claim to fame is “being Hyderized” – where they have you down a shot of 190-proof, pure grain alcohol. Well, ten years ago I might have been tempted, but my thirty-something good sense prevailed (that, and the fact that it was still only 10:30 am), so we skipped the Hyderization and just enjoyed looking around at the bar’s décor. Every wall is completely plastered with currency – one of the signs on the wall claims that the walls are worth more than $50,000.
After breakfast we decided our short foray into Alaska was finished. There really isn’t any way to get further into Alaska from Hyder – there’s just the one road that leads to and from Stewart. (I suppose you could leave by air or sea, if you were lucky enough to have a boat or helicopter.) So we’ve headed back down the Stewart-Cassiar Highway to continue our course west on the Yellowhead Highway to catch our ferry from Prince Rupert, BC to Juneau, AK.
We are now in Terrace, BC at one of the hands-down friendliest mom-and-pop RV parks we’ve ever stayed at. Despite the fact that they are completely full, they found a spot for us (with electric hookup) right on their front lawn – and they loaned us their propane grill so we could finally cook the two steaks we’ve had in the freezer since Moab – now that’s service!
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