Hyder, Alaska

The tiny community of Hyder was our goal for the day and the final destination on our Alaska itinerary. So small that Canada does not bother with a border crossing station, Hyder tends to attract visitors for one reason – bears. There are any number of places in Alaska that are famous for their bears but they all have one of three things in common: they are either very remote, very expensive, or they restrict visitation to a handful of lucky lottery winners each year. Hyder is different. You can drive to it; it only costs $5 to access the viewing platform; and, to this point, there are no restrictions on the number of visitors.

Hyder was the reason that I was able to remain at peace with the dearth of salmon that had – thus far – resulted in a dearth of bear sightings. In Hyder, it was not a question of whether or not you would see a bear; it was a question of how many.

The Boy corralled Mimi into taking some balloon tossing pictures while we got situated in one of Hyder’s two campgrounds. And, yes, it was warm enough for shorts! The camp host told us that the blue skies and warm temps were a little unusual in these parts. He explained that he and his wife drive over from New England every summer to spend six weeks here.

Not wanting to waste any opportunity to see and photograph bears, we soon set out to Fish Creek. It was less than 10 minutes from our campground. When we arrived there was not a bear to be seen anywhere. A Forest Service ranger told us that only one bear had been seen the entire day. I don’t know why I thought that the bears of Hyder would be unaffected by the lack of a salmon run but this news was a big disappointment.

We hung around for the final hour of daylight but no bear appeared. Eventually an eagle showed up to make a meal out of a fish carcass at the edge of the creek.

It wasn’t until our drive back to the campground that I captured my favorite image of the day. This eagle, perhaps the same one that had been snacking on the fish carcass earlier, decided to perch on a branch just a few yards off the road. I was sure it would fly off before I could grab a shot but, to my surprise, it sat and posed for us for at least five minutes.

Bears are the main attraction in Hyder but they’re not the only one. A 25 mile drive along a gravel mining road offers visitors breathtaking views of Salmon Glacier, the fifth largest glacier in North America. We decided to spend our last full day in Alaska exploring this road.

It could not have been a more beautiful day to make this drive. It wasn’t warm but it wasn’t cold either despite a valley full of ice. Another day of sunshine put everyone in a good mood.

This abandoned tunnel was one of the few mosquito-free respites along the road. The mosquitoes were out in force today, seemingly as excited about the weather as we. Although my Buzz Off clothing and permethrin-treated accessories were still proving 100% effective against the onslaught, my hands were taking a beating.

In the last month, we’d seen glaciers from a ship and from across a river. We’d even taken a short hike up onto one. This was entirely different. Here we were able to look down on this massive river of ice and get a sense for just how huge it actually was.

I was sorry that Mom and Dad were not here to witness this. Last evening, Dad made the decision that he’d seen enough. He had heard about someone in nearby Stewart, B.C., who he could hire to wash his rig. After getting this done, he planned to spend the rest of the day relaxing at the campground. Mom went to bed thinking she might join us but called an audible when it was time to get up.

From our lofty vantage point we could see all the shapes and textures as the ice twisted and bent along its path down the mountain. I was surprised we weren’t hearing regular creaks and pops echo across the valley.

It was late afternoon when we arrived back at the campground. It was actually a little too warm in my parents’ freshly cleaned 5th wheel. The heat and the early hour of our departure that morning left The Boy and me ready for a nap. We couldn’t relax too long though. We needed to get back to Fish Creek for another bear watch.

When we arrived at Fish Creek the report was no better than the day before. They’d seen one small black bear early that morning. I was on the boardwalk for part of that encounter although I didn’t get any good shots out of it. It was now clear that my decision to continue on to Salmon Glacier had been a good one.

Although I didn’t expect the result to be any different than the day before, I was determined to at least put in the time to see if a bear showed up this evening. A number of folks had been here all day keeping watch. I imagined they were probably pretty sick of watching an empty creek. Still, if a bear was going to show up, early morning and late evening were the most likely times for this to occur so there was still reason for optimism.

The water in Fish Creek was crystal clear making it easy to spot the few salmon that had bothered to show up this year. In another week, Hyder would be holding its annual Salmon Festival. This year looked to be a bust.

We’d been watching for about 45 minutes when excited whispers started making their way down the boardwalk. Someone had spotted a young grizzly in the distance and it looked like he was headed our way. Sure enough – minutes later he appeared, walking down the middle of the creek. This is what everyone had been waiting to see.

There was considerable jockeying for position along the boardwalk as the bear made his way toward us. Mom had managed to establish herself in a prime spot and moved over to let me squeeze in.

It was really something to see this grizzly so close.

The bear crossed over to the opposite side of the creek and wandered along its bank, occasionally stopping to munch on the fresh green grass. He did not seem the least bit interested in fishing for one of the few salmon swimming around. Perhaps it was too much work when there were so few of them.

The whole encounter lasted only 13 minutes. We all felt very fortunate to have been at the boardwalk at just the right time. Soon the grizzly disappeared into the brush, briefly reappearing on the road before jumping over a guard rail back into the creek, out of sight from his public.

Because our young grizzly bear made his appearance so early in the evening, we still had time to drive back up to Salmon Glacier. I wanted my parents to see it but they were ambivalent; Dad, in particular, didn’t want to drive up and back. After some arm twisting, a plan emerged. Darla and Lewis would head back to the campground to fix dinner. I would chauffer my parents up to the glacier with the understanding that we would not be stuck there past dark while I took photographs. This arrangement worked fine for me, in part, because I wouldn’t have driven back up by myself to take pictures anyway. And I expected the light to be bad – most of the glacier would be in shadow.

As it turned out, I was wrong. The light was beautiful. I could have easily spent the remaining hours of daylight taking photographs. I was glad my parents got to enjoy some beautiful light.

From this, the best viewpoint along the road, we were shooting almost directly into the setting sun. This forced us to choose between getting our hand in the shot, as Mom did here while taking a picture of me taking a picture, or deal with lens flare, as I did in the following image.

Mom grabbed one last shot before we continued down the road.

I was happy that this was the final stop on our Alaska road trip – not happy that our trip was winding down but pleased that it was ending in this beautiful place on this beautiful day. This is how I wanted to remember Alaska.

This trip definitely had its ups and downs: The weather had been frustrating at times; the record high fuel prices made the journey far more expensive than we had originally planned; and the fact that the salmon decided to take the year off profoundly reduced the amount of wildlife we were able to observe. I also could have done without the cracked windshield, the four punctured tires, and the dead deer. Yet this was all part of the package – the adventure that is a road trip to Alaska.

What I will remember long after the memory of the disappointments and frustrations have faded is the grandeur of the Alaskan landscape. It is vast and beautiful, even in the worst of conditions. I will remember that sense of discovery that comes from venturing into a place that is completely unknown. I will remember the joy in a certain Boy’s voice as he discovered hundreds of jellyfish in the water beneath his feet, the taste of freshly “caught” salmon, the thunderous sound of a calving glacier, and the friendly people. Perhaps most of all, I will remember the five weeks of uninterrupted time with my family – a opportunity that many folks never get.

To those who have taken this virtual trip with us, persevering through 17 sets of images and text, it is my hope that you have derived some joy from the journey as well. Perhaps you will be inspired to make your own journey to Alaska. Perhaps we will meet you along the way – because we will definitely be going back!

Mom gets credit for the last image in the Alaska collection. It was the last shot taken before we all ran back to Dad’s truck, in full retreat from the onslaught of mosquitoes still on the hunt as the fading light marked the end of our day and the end of our adventure.

Previous Image Set: The Cassiar Highway, B.C.

As a postscript, I think I may have damaged The Boy. The first thing he did when he got home was run over a toy deer with his toy train…