Updated - January 2009 38 Where, when, and how to discover the best photography in America Published since 1989 driving the Alaska Highway A ll photographers. dream of a trip to Alaska. I want to photograph and write as much as possible about our last frontier. To begin this project, I drove the Alaska Highway from Washington State, north through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, to Alaska. I returned via the Cassiar Highway. These roads through the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest are kept open and well-maintained year-round. This newsletter is an account of my trip with details about the route, the facilities, and especially the photo opportunities along the highway to Alaska. Before reaching the border of the State of Alaska, I was photographing the wildlife and the wilderness landscapes I had been dreaming of. Here's what I discovered on my six-thousand-mile exploration of the Alaska Highway.
issue 38 - page 2 Planning the trip The Alaska Ferry makes the trip from Bellingham, Washington, to Haines, Alaska, in three days. To drive from Bellingham to Alaska can take you about the same length of time. Drive to Alaska and you ll be able to see and photograph much of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory along the way. You will have your car when you arrive. If you fly into Alaska, rent a car or a camper when you arrive. When your ferry arrives at Haines, Alaska, you ll have that drive of 777 miles from Haines to Anchorage. On my photo trip through Canada and up the Alaska Highway, I photographed bald eagles, golden eagles, black bear, brown bear, foxes, coyotes, possums, stone sheep, caribou, moose, elk, deer, spawning salmon, and wild horses. Be sure to purchase a copy of the MILEPOST. It can be found in the travel section of larger book stores. This is the most important item you ll need to plan your Alaska trip. It contains mile-by-mile descriptions of all the highways leading to the State of Alaska and all the highways and byways in Alaska. It also contains the information you ll need to plan and make reservations for a cruise to Alaska by ferry. Since I was driving alone, I had to pull off the road and stop to check the MILEPOST. If you Packing for the trip When I pack for a photo trip, I put everything I m taking into several Rubbermaid Action Packer plastic containers. I use one for food, one for camare traveling with a passenger who will keep the guide open and check it regularly, keep track of your progress, mileby-mile along the entire route. You can learn the names of the many rivers you will cross, the lakes you ll see, and the names of the mountain peaks along your route. All the locations Heading north to Alaska, August 1995 of available services gas, food, and lodging along all the highways through Canada, and in the state of Alaska are noted in the MILEPOST. Driving to Alaska, you ll be following several different routes. Instead of numbers, the MILE- POST refers to these northern highways by their names. The stretch of highway between Cache Creek and Prince George is called the Cariboo Highway. The Alaska Highway actually starts in the B.C. town of Dawson Creek at milepost #0. Most of these roads are wellpaved two-lane highways with occasional passing lanes. Some sections of the highway are always being improved, repaired, and repaved. Freezing and thawing breaks up the surface and pushes up large bumps called frost heaves. Some sections may be closed for a few hours each day for blasting new routes and straightening dangerous curves. If you plan on driving to Alaska from the eastern part of the United States, cross the Canadian border in northern Montana. You can visit and photograph Glacier National Park, then cross the border and drive north through the Canadian Rockies to Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper. From Jasper National Park, take the Yellowhead Highway (#16) northwest to Prince George, British Columbia. Traveling north from the West Coast, cross the border at Aldergrove, north of Bellingham, Washington. The most direct route will take you east on the Trans-Canada Highway #1 through the town of Hope, British Columbia. Head north along the Fraser River through Cache Creek to Prince George. From Prince George, you will have the choice of taking two different routes. I drove the Alaska Highway north to Alaska and returned south via the Cassiar Highway. This newsletter is an account of my experiences along these highways.
issue 38 - page 3 era gear, and one for clothing. Everything, including my camera, tripod, film, and computer, are kept out of sight. Crossing the border Do not take any firearms, mace, pepper spray, or bear repellent across the border. Be ready to declare any liquor or cigarettes you may be carrying. It usually takes only a few minutes to cross the border unless you are driving an RV or pulling a trailer. I ve been stopped and my vehicle has been inspected on at least six of my border crossings. They can do a very thorough search in about 30 minutes; so I expect to be delayed and keep my travel schedule loose. A short distance north of most border crossings are money exchange services where I usually stop to change my U.S. Dollars into Canadian Dollars. A bank will offer a better exchange rate, but they are not always convenient and may not be open when you cross the border. The small town of Hope, B.C., is located in a spectacular setting beside the Fraser River and encircled by towering peaks of the Lillooet Range. This is where I felt that my Alaska trip started. I spent the night in a motel in Hope and planned to camp out the rest of the way. After an early breakfast, I crossed the Fraser River, headed north on Highway 1, and drove the highway up the deep river gorge for several hours. Below the highway, the tracks of the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Nation- al Railways follow the river canyon as far north as Cache Creek where they turn east through Kamloops, B.C. The morning light was perfect on several small waterfalls dropping down the canyon walls. I spotted cascades and waterfalls hidden back off the road in many places. Look uphill every time you drive over a bridge or a culvert. Small, fast streams dropping into deep river valleys are often worth a stop. From the same scenic pull-outs, I found beautiful scenes overhead of wispy clouds hanging in the folds of the canyon walls. I stopped several times to photograph whitewater rafters running rapids down the river. Highway 1 leaves the river after crossing at Spences Bridge. There are two routes to Alaska. I could continue north on Highway 97 and follow the Alaska Highway through Fort St. John and Fort Nelson or take the faster route west on Highway 16 toward Prince Rupert and then north on the Cassiar Highway. A few miles farther north, Highway 1 turns east at Cache Creek and crosses Canada, as the Trans-Canada Highway, all the way to St. John s on the Island of Newfoundland. I followed Highway 97, the Cariboo Highway, as it continued north. The landscape began to flatten beyond Cache Creek. The scene changed to rolling grassland and farms all the way to the town of Prince George. Cache Creek, Quesnel, and Prince George were the three largest towns I passed through on my first day s drive. I found all the services I needed. I was not yet driving through the wilderness of the Great Northwest. There are plenty of lodgings and restaurants in each of these towns, with Prince George having the most services. The town of Prince George was easy to reach in one day from the Canadian Border. Prince George is the fourth largest city in British Columbia, with lumber mills, pulp mills, plywood mills and smells of the timber industry. As I entered the city of Prince George, a sign pointed the way to the British Columbia Travel Infocentre at the intersection of Highway 97 and Highway 16. I stopped and asked my questions about highway conditions to the north. I found out that some highways ahead would be under construction and there would be short delays in several places. One of the highway sections would be closed for a few hours each day. I continued traveling north to the Alaska Highway and would return on the Cassiar Highway. Highway 97 is called the Hart Highway between Prince George and Dawson Creek, where the official start and mile zero of the Alaska Highway begins. On this first day of my drive to Alaska, I made it as far as the Bear Lake Campground at Crooked River Provincial Park, exactly 43.3 miles north of Prince George.
issue 38 - page 4 There are many provincial Parks in British Columbia. Their campgrounds are well laid out and beautifully maintained. Pick up one of the road maps of the province in any of the Travel Infocentres along their highways and you ll find a list of all the parks. There are many private, commercial RV parks and campgrounds along the highways north. Most are set up like parking lots, packing in as many vehicles as possible. Many B.C. Provincial parks offer larger campsites, usually surrounded by trees that give privacy and quiet. My first campsite was on the shore of Bear Lake where I enjoyed photographing the reflection of the sunset on Bear Lake. The next morning, I passed by the side road to the modern, planned community of Mackenzie (established in 1966) and pushed on to Bijoux Falls Provincial Park to photograph the largest waterfall yet along my route. The overcast softened the light. A light rain made the mossy rocks at the base of the falls too slippery to reach the best tripod location. I settled for a wide-angle view that included several poplars. Beyond Bijoux Falls, the highway climbed over Pine Pass, the highest point on this highway, and passed several ski resorts. All the motels in the town of Chetwynd were filled. Lodging reservations should be made in the towns where you plan to stop overnight. At Chetwynd I turned north on the Hudson s Hope Highway #29. This scenic mountain cut-off saves thirty miles and reaches the Alaska highway north of Dawson Creek. I found a small campground on beautiful Moberly Lake, along Highway 29. Every campground had piles of firewood for evening campfires. North of Dawson Creek on the Alaska Highway Traveling east, I passed through the neat and tidy town of Hudson s Hope. It had several lodgings and a few restaurants. Hudson s Hope was one of the earliest settlements in British Columbia and the nearby dams generates much of BC s electrical power. To the east, I saw the leveling of the Rockies and the western edge of the great plains beyond. For miles the road is lined with the tall white trunks of aspens with leaves still green in mid-august. When I reached the end of the Hudson s Hope cut-off, I turned left on the Alaska Highway. I was 54 miles north of Dawson Creek. Here s where the Alaska Highway officially begins. The Alaska Highway The distance between gas stations increased as I traveled north of Prince George. By the time I passed Fort St. John, I kept an eye on my gas gauge. There are signs along the highway with warnings that the next services are 100 km. I filled the tank every time I stopped for food and tried to fill up when it reached the half-empty mark on the gauge. Beyond Fort St. John, the highway stretched northwest down the center of a wide swath cut through many miles of young second growth evergreen forest. After many long straight miles of pavement, the road curved and continued for more miles. The road was, for most of the distance, two lanes. This highway was built in 1942 by the US Army Corps of Engineers to deliver war materials to Alaska. It was engineered for large trucks. There are few sharp corners and most gradients are 8% or less. Most of the highway signs warned of moose crossing the road. So far I had only seen a few black bears crossing the highway. A dozen grouse froze in mid-crossing. I had to slow and drive off the pavement, going around them as they stood there lined up across the road. In summer, there are many more daylight hours this far north. In mid August, it never seemed to get dark. I stopped at a predetermined location each evening allowing enough time for dinner and rest.
issue 38 - page 5 I found a campground at Prophet River, near Fort Nelson. It was a quiet evening around the campfire. The campground was in a forest of aspen. A few miles farther north, a modern highway bridge crosses the wide and fast Muskwa River (Indian for Bear). It replaced the old bridges that usually washed out each spring when the Muskwa overflowed its banks. This river flows north to the Arctic Ocean. Two miles beyond the river is the town of Fort Nelson. Established in 1805 as a fur trading post, this community has all the services travelers need. Across the highway is the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum definitely worth a stop to see their stuffed white moose. Fort Nelson was the eastern headquarters for the 1942 construction of the Alaska Highway. The town of Whitehorse, in the Yukon, was the western headquarters for that massive wartime project. It took less than a year to complete. Over seventy bulldozers still lie buried in the muskeg where they sank near Fort Nelson. The Alaska Highway was built over them. Beyond Fort Nelson, the Alaska Highway becomes more interesting. Heading westward, the highway climbs back into the mountains. I was looking for places to stop and photograph. It can be difficult to stop along this highway. Much of the road is narrow and has no shoulders with few places to pull off to the side of the road. There were very few Rest Area signs along the Alaska Highway but I saw many signs pointing out the Litter Barrels Ahead. I slowed at most of the litter barrel turn-outs to check the photography in the area. Seventy miles of mountain driving took me to the edge of the Stone Mountain Provincial Park. There the highway reaches its summit, the highest point on the Alaska Highway, through a landscape of bare and rocky peaks. Summit Lake is a long, narrow alpine lake with a wind-whipped surface. Several caribou blocked the highway and I stopped to grab my camera. I photographed the caribou along the edge of the paved highway. I was well above treeline and there were large patches of snow on the slopes of Mount St. Paul. I found a campsite in the Summit Lake Provincial Park Campground, then hiked down to the edge of the lake to find the best spot for my tripod. It took me several hours to hike around the lake. The sunset on Summit Lake was spectacular. An overnight stop and several more hours in the morning gave me enough time to photograph more caribou and to reach the trailhead at Flower Springs Lake. An overnight dusting of light snow covered the slopes of the surrounding mountains. That far north the weather can change very quickly. My guide book noted that September was the wettest month of the year and it can snow during any month of the year in this area. Wildlife crossing the highway may panic as you approach and turn back in front of your car. A group of animals may split up and run in different directions, especially if they are trapped in a steep-walled canyon. I slowed or stopped my car when I saw them and waited for them to cross. It is unsafe to stop on the highway to photograph wildlife from a car. It took me over an hour to reach the bottom of the Mac- Donald River Valley because of the great views looking south, the waterfalls dropping from the cliffs, and the many bighorn sheep along the roadsides. A sign pointed out that these are Stone sheep, named after the American hunter-explorer, Andrew J. Stone. Stone sheep are a subspecies of the pure white Dall sheep found in the Yukon. They are smaller and darker than the Rocky Mountain bighorn, found farther south. These sheep are the same color as the mountain and are not easy to spot on the cliffs. I kept a 20mm wide-angle lens on my camera and a 300mm telephoto on the spare camera to be ready for everything, including spectacular views of distant sawtooth mountains and an incredible folded mountain of sediment layers. Along the north shore of Muncho Lake, there are several lodges, restaurants, and gas stations. A mile farther north on the lake side of the highway, I found a scenic ok to here
issue 38 - page 6 view of Muncho Lake and the surrounding mountains. This was at the road s highest point along the shoreline and it offered a great view of the lake and the surrounding Muncho Lake Provincial Park. The only suspension bridge (1,143 ft) along the Alaska Highway crosses the wide Liard River thirty miles north of Muncho Lake. The Liard River was named for the poplars that line the river. Liard is French for black poplar. After crossing the bridge, the highway follows the Liard River all the way to the Yukon Border, near Watson Lake. Just beyond the bridge is the Liard Hotsprings Provincial Park a good place to photograph moose feeding in the pools around the hot springs. Wild orchids and other misplaced plants survive and flourish at this latitude because of the hotsprings. Twenty miles beyond Liard Hotsprings, at the Smith River Bridge, is a short, unpaved road through the woods to the Smith River Falls trailhead. It was an easy ten-minute walk along a beautiful forest trail to the viewpoint above the twotiered Smith River Falls. There was a hand-lettered sign at the trailhead warning of bears often seen along the trail. Instead of frightening me off, I took a telephoto lens. The trail continued beyond the viewpoint, down to the edge of the pool at the base of the falls. There are provincial parks and private, commercial campgrounds all along the route. I passed campground signs all day. Late in the afternoon I started to watch for the signs and looked for a good campsite. Some were in beautiful locations and some were large, unpaved parking Looking east across Muncho Lake in northern B.C. lots with rows of RVs, lined up, side-by-side. The Yukon Border When I reached the Yukon Border, there was a large welcome sign and a noticeable difference in the quality of the pavement. The road got much better on the Yukon side of the line. The highway passes through Contact Creek, the first community across the Yukon/British Columbia border, and winds past an Indian village called Lower Post the site of a former Hudson s Bay Company trading post. The town of Watson Lake has been called The gateway to the Yukon. There are gas stations and auto repair shops plus motels in the town of Watson Lake. At the Downtown RV Park, they gave a free RV wash with an overnight stay. After several days on the Alaska Highway, mud completely covered my tail lights and rear window. In the center of town, at the junction of the Alaska Highway and the Robert Campbell Highway, I found the historic Watson Lake Signpost Forest. Travelers have been adding signs from their home towns since 1942. There are now over twenty-thousand city, street, direction, and other types of signs from all over the world, hanging on many posts. More posts are being added as visitors continue to drop off more signs at the visitor center next door. Driving through the town of Watson Lake, I could not see the lake from the highway. That part of the Yukon is flat and the forests of white spruce and lodgepole pine lining the straight highway block any view from the road. Thirteen miles west of Watson Lake, I reached the junction of Highway #37, the Cassiar Highway. If you drive north on the Alaska Highway, and don t plan to return south with your vehicle on the Alaska Ferry, you might want to return home by driving the Cassiar Highway. West of Junction 37, the highway was wide, fast, and well engineered. Miles of long, straight highway stretched to the horizon, then made a slight turn or dip and continued northwest as far as the eye could see. Fifty miles west of Watson Lake, the highway climbs slowly into the
issue 38 - page 7 gradually-rising hills along Rancheria Creek. The scenic views were opening and I began to see places to stop for photographs. I crossed the Continental Divide a hundred miles west of Watson Lake. All the rivers west of that line empty into the Pacific. The highway loops south into British Columbia and then reenters the Yukon Territory. There are several scenic pull-outs above Teslin Lake (over a hundred miles long). Mountain slopes above the lake were already covered with large patches of autumn color by the third week of August. I photographed bright yellow aspen and poplar, the earliest autumn photography I d ever done. Just before arriving in Whitehorse, the capitol of Canada s Yukon Territory, I crossed the Yukon River. This mighty river flows north, past Whitehorse and Dawson City through the Yukon Territory and then is turned west by the Brooks Range and crosses Alaska to flow into the Bering Sea over a hundred miles south of Nome. Whitehorse is a major city, about two-thirds of the entire population of the Yukon Territory. I left the highway and drove the loop road through the city. Second and Fourth are the two main streets of Whitehorse. Along those busy thoroughfares, were motels, hotels, visitor centers, markets, and shops. An old stern-wheeler river boat sat on the river bank at the east end of Whitehorse. The SS Klondike is a Canadian National Historic Site. This 210-foot paddle wheeler carried cargo and passengers between Dawson City and Whitehorse between 1937 and the 1950s. More than seventy of these boats were operating The SS Klondike on the edge of the Yukon River in Whitehorse at one time on the Yukon River. Making their way upstream against the strong current, these sternwheelers burned over two cords of wood per mile. Most of the river steamers ceased operations in 1942, when the Alaska Highway was finished. I bought a ticket for the guided tour of the SS Klondike and then spent another hour photographing small closeup details on the boat. At the junction of Klondike Highway Highway #2 to Dawson City, a sign noted the 327- mile drive to Dawson City at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. A ferry crosses the Yukon River and the road continues west into Alaska as the Top of the World Highway. It loops southwest and rejoins the Alaska Highway east of Tok, Alaska. (It s pronounced toke ) Only two-hundred miles from the Arctic Circle, Dawson Creek would be a great place to photograph the Northern Lights. It s on my list for another trip north. West of Whitehorse, the Alaska Highway is flat and straight. The highway crosses the broad plain of the Takhini River, and runs all the way to a small community called Champagne, the home of the Champagne-Aishihik Indians. Just beyond their cluster of log cabins, I spotted a cemetery above the road. Each grave was covered with a small white spirit house and surrounded by a low white picket fence. Driving up to the entrance I saw the sign. This cemetery is not a tourist attraction. Please respect our privacy as we respect yours. I continued driving. From the highway, I could see the tops of Mount Kennedy and Mount Hubbard rising in the distance beyond a panoramic backdrop of lower peaks surrounding the town of Haines Junction. Even the nearest peaks were covered with snow in mid August. Farther to the west, hidden from view by the St. Elias Mountain Range, was Mount Logan, the highest peak in Canada at 19,520
The Alaska Border At the Welcome to Alaska sign, a short granite marker stands on the International Boundary that runs north in a straight line all the way to the Arctic Ocean and south to Mount St. Elias in the Wrangell Range. The twentyfoot-wide swath along the borissue 38 - page 8 instead of the last stop at Skagway. The drive from Haines into central Alaska to Anchorage or Fairbanks is shorter than the drive from Skagway. Take the ferry all the way to Skagway, and you ll have to drive a longer route north through Whitehorse before heading west to Alaska. Hot springs keep the Chilkat River from freezing over; so the salmon spawn is later than normal in the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. As many as 3000 bald eagles have been counted in one day. The best spots are twenty miles north of the town of Haines. There are pull-outs along the highfeet or, as the Canadians prefer, 5950 meters. Surrounding these peaks is the world s largest non-polar icefield with glaciers covering more than half the area of Kluane (kloo- AH-nee) National Park, year round. Haines Junction is on the eastern boundary of the Kluane National Park. I wanted to explore the area, so I found a campsite at Pine Lake Provincial Park. By stopping early, I got one of the best spots on the edge of the lake. There s a jogging path from the campground to Haines Junction. After all the driving I d done, a little exercise was needed, so I walked into Haines Junction. The best light of the day often illuminates late afternoon walks. The Kluane National Park Visitor Center, on Logan Street, had a large relief map in the lobby showing the ice fields, the mountains, the lakes, and the rivers of the park. The center had an excellent multi-projector slide show plus plenty of brochures with information about the park. Kluane National Park claims to have the largest population of grizzly bears in the world. I learned about the nearby Tatshenshini and Alsek Rivers, with their incredible whitewater rafting, scenery, and wildlife. Rafting trips can be arranged at the Kluane Park Adventure Center in Haines Junction At the Haines Junction Airport, there were fixed-wing flight-seeing tours of the ice fields, fishing charters, and helicopter tours over the glaciers. The only way to see the ice fields is from the air. There are no roads through this wilderness park. The Alaska Highway and Highway 3 to Haines follow the eastern boundary. There are 155 miles of trails through Kluane. Haines Junction has a good selection of services, motels, and restaurants. The RV park in the center of town is a large, open parking lot with all the vehicles lined up side-by-side. I picked up some groceries and headed back to my great campsite in the woods on the edge of Pine Lake. If you re going to Alaska with your car on the Alaska Ferry System, you may want to get off the boat at Haines The largest known concentration of bald eagles gathers late each autumn to feed on the salmon run up the Chilkat River, north of Haines, Alaska. way where photographers set up tripods and wait all day. The daylight hours are short in early winter. It can get very cold in November, the peak of the gathering. Make lodging reservations early in the year if you plan to fly into Haines to photograph the eagles. The Alaska Ferry schedule offers fewer departure dates during the winter season, but you can cruise north, rent a car in Haines, and stay in a hotel. On the Alaska Highway fifty miles north of Haines Junction, I drove around a bend in the road and saw the full panorama of Kluane Lake. The mountains seemed to drop right into the lake. The solid granite mountain slopes make an excellent base for the highway. The other side of the lake and much of the route surveyed crossed permafrost just beneath soft tundra. The ground beneath much of the highway never really thaws. In the middle of the warmest summer, the ground thaws to a depth of twelve feet and the muskeg stays soft and muddy until the next winter arrives. Every time the ground beneath the highway freezes, it expands and lifts the pavement, creating frost heaves.
issue 38 - page 9 der was cleared by surveyors from 1904 to 1920. Portions are periodically cleared of forest growth by the International Boundary Commission. All Alaska-bound traffic stopped at the U.S. Border checkpoint, a few hundred yards beyond the actual border. Crossing the border, I moved my watch ahead one hour to Alaska Time. There was only a telephone at the U.S. check point. Any other service, like gasoline, was located about three miles farther north. After crossing the border and filling the gas tank, I turned around and headed south. I returned via the Cassiar Highway. This trip was to drive, explore, and photograph the Alaska Highway. At the Alaska border, I filled my gas tank and bought a bumper sticker that read I survived the Alaska Highway. They didn t have one that read I enjoyed the Alaska Highway. The Cassiar Highway I drove southeast, almost to Watson Lake, then turned south onto the Cassiar Highway where it joins the Alaska Highway. At the community called Junction 37, there was a restaurant and two gas stations. A sign at the last gas station at Junction 37 noted that the next services were over 230 km south at the community of Dease Lake. Along the Cassiar Highway, the distance between the small communities, gas stations, and other services marked on my map was greater than along the Alaska Highway. I watched my gas gauge and checked my map for driving distances. South of Junction 37, the terrain changed as the highway gradually climbed up onto the Liard Plain, a plateau formed by ancient lava flows and smoothed by glaciers. A stunted forest of white spruce spread across the plain. I continued south sixty miles to Boya Lake Campground. There were 44 campsites at Boya Lake, including a row of ten campsites located right on the edge of the lake. When I arrived, the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the white tops of thunderhead clouds across the lake reflected the warm afternoon sun. From the edge of the lake, I photographed reflections of clouds and low rolling hills to the east. After dinner, I sat next to a campfire listening to loons across the lake. Days seldom end better than that. Boya Lake is one of the B.C. Provincial Parks. Arrive early enough in the afternoon, and you will have your choice of any of the ten campsites right on the edge of the lake. An attendant rides around the camp on a bicycle to collect the fee for overnight camping. He told me that the fishing was poor because the water is so clear that the fish can see you approach. Twenty miles south of Boya Lake, a side road runs west to the abandoned mining town of Cassiar. A sign warns that no services are available and that the town and mine are closed to the public. Cassiar was one of the world s largest and most productive asbestos mines. It was closed in 1992. Most of the Alaska Highway follows a level route with open views of distant landscapes. The Cassiar Highway, follows a more mountainous route along the eastern edge of the rainy coastal Tongass National Forest. I stopped to photograph cascades dropping from cliffs and beautiful small lakes along the road. The MILEPOST listed over a dozen wilderness resorts and campgrounds along the Cassiar Highway. Several lodgings were in the small communities along the road. Most of the fishing lodges and guest ranches were hidden at the end of rough unpaved roads. I spotted small float planes tied up in front of several lakeside rental cabins. I drove two long unpaved sections of highway south of Dease Lake. I continued south, driving slowly through some deep mud, until I reached an area called Meziadin Lake Junction (mezy-ad-in). Hyder, Alaska At the junction, I headed west on 37A to explore one of the best-kept secrets in western British Columbia the town of Hyder, Alaska. Driving west on 37A, the mountains got higher and the road down the river valley got squeezed in on both sides by the steep canyon walls.
issue 38 - page 10 Seven miles from the junction, at the Surprise Creek Bridge, I got my first view of the many glaciers. High on the steep slopes of the mountains on the south side of the highway are dozens of glaciers, hanging on almost vertical walls. The exposed bottom edges of the glaciers are all the same shade of sky blue, the color of glacial ice. Looking down on Bear Lake at the foot of Bear Glacier Fifteen miles west of the junction is Bear Glacier, the largest of them. The base of Bear Glacier is on the far side of the highway, several hundred feet across a small pond. A large ice cave opens into the glacier at lake level and is accessible by boat. The base of Bear Glacier once reached all the way to the north side of the canyon, covering what is now the highway. A few hundred feet east of the glacier view is a marked rest stop. This short side road leads to a spot with a great view across the lake and the valley beyond. A few miles downstream, the canyon gets very narrow with space for only the road and the deep and narrow Bear River. There were wide spots along the road where I parked to photograph the cascading river and the forest growing on vertical walls of the canyon beyond the river. Even in late summer, the cliffs were deep green and covered with a dense forest of Douglas fir and thimbleberry. The rocks were covered with thick moss, berries, and vine maple and were dripping with small cascades and waterfalls. From one spot along the road, I saw three waterfalls dropping at least a thousand feet from the top of the canyon in a series of cascades, none more than a hundred feet. I stopped at every pull-out I found along the road. Thirty-seven miles west of Meziadin Lake Junction, I entered the small town of Stewart, British Columbia (population 1000). The welcome sign at the entrance to this isolated place claims this is Canada s most northerly ice-free port. Stewart is located at the eastern end of the ninety-mile-long Portland Canal, which follows the southern US Canadian border between British Columbia and Alaska. The canal is accessible from the Inland Passage, about halfway between Prince Rupert, B.C. and Ketchikan. I drove down the main street of Stewart and was soon in the town of Hyder. The two towns are back to back. Stewart is in Canada and Hyder is in the US. There was no border crossing and no customs check. Hyder is the only town you can drive to along the Southeastern Alaska Panhandle. You can drive there in less than a day-and-a-half from Seattle on paved roads. Hyder is a regular stop for the weekly ferry from Ketchikan. Hyder was once a mining town with a population of 10,000. Hyder now has a population of 85 and several bars, a few restaurants, and a couple of motels. There is an RV park in Hyder and two in Stewart. I stopped and photographed the Welcome to Alaska sign over the main street of town. I drove the main street of Hyder and kept going when the pavement ended. I passed an Entering the Tongass National Forest sign. A short distance farther was a sign and a map with directions to the bear viewing platforms. Entering the main street of Hyder Alaska This area is called a high density bear area and I had never heard of it! Through the months of August and September, the Salmon River is filled with spawning chum
issue 38 - page 11 and pink salmon. Five miles north of Hyder, along the dirt road that follows the Salmon River, is a short path to a raised wooden viewing platform above a side stream called Fish Creek. Salmon filled the shallow stream. The largest were over 30 inches long and probably weighed 40 pounds. After leaving their eggs in the gravel stream bottom, the salmon died. Many were floating, belly-up and more were still struggling farther upstream to deposit and fertilize their eggs. Bald eagles were circling above. The gravel road continued north along the Salmon River for thirty miles. There were several gold mines and three large glaciers visible from the road. The largest was called the Salmon Glacier. Several viewpoints were above the Salmon Glacier where I found a classic composition of a glacier carving a long S curve down a deep valley. The road ended at the border with British Columbia. Heading south Driving south again on the Cassiar Highway, the terrain changed as the highway crossed the broad Skeena River and headed south along the flat and swampy Nass River Valley. The highway is lined with young poplars, cottonwood, and aspen. Along the highway, there are tent villages of commercial mushroom hunters. I left the paved highway in several places to follow old logging roads into the woods. I found many wild mushrooms. The most colorful were the large red and white amanita muscaria, the inedible magic mushroom. Fans of macro photography can find many varieties of wild mushrooms in these swampy forests. I photographed old totem poles in the village of Kitwancool. A marked access road looped through the village and back onto the highway. Fifteen miles south, I drove into the Native Reserve of Gitwangak and photographed another group of totem poles. Looking south, across the Skeena River, I saw the Yellowhead Highway, the east/west route between Prince George and Prince Rupert on the coast. I crossed the bridge and turned east on Highway 16, the Yellowhead Highway, on my way back to Prince George to complete the large loop. Starting from Prince George, the Cassiar Highway route is 114 miles shorter than taking the Alaska Highway. There are fewer facilities and the road is rougher, but the Cassiar Highway is more interesting and more scenic than the Alaska Highway. The Yellowhead The Yellowhead Highway is a paved, trans-canada highway that starts in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and extends west to Prince Rupert. I drove east through forests, past small lakes, and across miles of rolling farm lands. The town of Smithers was the first town I passed that had all the services a traveler needed. Smithers has a large and modern market, several restaurants, and motels. Smithers Airport has regularly scheduled flights to the from Vancouver, B.C. Fly into Smithers, rent a car and drive north (4-5 hours) to Hyder for a week of bear photography in late August at the peak of the salmon season. The main street of Smithers has the look of a Swiss village. I was leaving the wilderness of the north and returning to the crowded latitudes of civilization. For my last night in Canada, I found another quiet campsite on the edge of Fraser Lake at the Beaumont Provincial Park. The next morning, I retraced my route from Prince George back to the U.S. border crossing at Aldergrove. The Alaska Highway was a wonderful experience. I had no problems along the six-thousand miles I traveled. I plan to return to Alaska by air or by sea, but I look forward to driving the Alaska Highway again soon. Have a great trip to Alaska! Send me a postcard!
Climbing out of the woods along Fish Creek, Hyder, Alaska There is a small pond on the other side of the trail along the edge of Fish Creek, north of Hyder, Alaska. Bears wade up the creek to the salmon spawning grounds on Fish Creek. Sometimes they make their way through the woods, cross the pond, climb out, and go down into Fish Creek to gorge on salmon. After standing there all day, on the edge of the creek, with your camera, photographing bears splashing up and down the stream, ripping apart salmon and devouring them, it is easy to forget about what s happening behind you. When the ranger yelled for the photographers to move out of the way, naturally, they all wanted to stand their ground and get this shot. The bear kept coming until some more yelling finally cleared the trail. The bears are more interested in salmon than photographers. Hyder can be reached via a paved road with a two-day drive north of the Canadian border. There are lodgings and restaurants nearby. Fish Creek is surrounded by steep mountains. Glaciers, waterfalls, and the relics of abandoned gold mines are nearby. Bald eagles can be photographed on snags along the river. A scheduled ferry departs from Hyder once a week for Ketchikan and charter flights are available from the air strip at nearby Stewart, B. C. My life-long career in photography began at San Jose State University in 1957. After college, I enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, serving as a photographer and darkroom technician. In Germany, my skills and experience with equipment and lab work were developed and polished. I took the opportunity to photograph the beauty of nature in the Black Forest. Returning to California in 1965, I produced industrial and military training films for Raytheon Electronics and began showing my color nature prints. From 1969 through 1981, my photography was exhibited and sold in West Coast galleries. During the early 1980 s, I taught color darkroom workshops, then expanded to include field trips. Former customers, who had purchased my framed photographs, wanted to learn photography. My Pacific Image Photography Workshops offered adventures to the Pacific Coast, the Southwest deserts, national parks, Hawaii, New England, Canada, England, and the South Pacific. The workshops evolved into writing and sharing my adventures with others. Photograph America Newsletter provides information on where, when, and how to discover the best nature photography in North America. Photograph America Newsletter is published quarterly (four issues/year) by Robert Hitchman assisted by technical associate/wife, Katherine Post Office Box 86, Novato, CA 94948-0086 1-415-898-9677 www.photographamerica.com All contents of this newsletter copyright 1989-2016 Robert Hitchman Please don t make copies for your friends. This is a violation of Federal copyright laws. This newsletter survives on subscriptions.