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Cassiar Highway Many RV travelers take the Alaska Highway to our northern-most state and return by the Cassiar Highway which is highway 37. The Cassiar runs 450 miles from Watson Lake, Yukon Territory to Kitwanga, British Columbia. Everyone who travels that highway makes a side trip over highway 37A to Hyder, Alaska to watch bears catch salmon swimming up stream to spawn. The trip to Hyder adds about 78 miles making the trip 528 miles through untamed wilderness. The Cassiar Highway and the highway to Hyder travels through the most beautiful parts of British Columbia with bright blue lakes, rivers and streams, valleys and snow capped mountains and glaciers that extend from the peaks of mountains down to the highway. For the lucky traveler a variety of wildlife can be seen. We had read about the beauty and venture of the Cassiar and that was our planned route out of the Yukon. Before leaving Watson Lake, Yukon we searched the internet for road conditions on the Cassiar, we talked to RVers in the campground, to a man who owns a restaurant, to a woman at the Visitor Center and to the man behind the cash register where we filled our fuel tanks for the trip. This is what we learned. - The first 60 miles is very rough with
pot-holes. Drive about 15-mph and you should make it, but be very careful.
Rich and I talked about whether we should try driving down the Cassiar Highway or head back down the Alaska Highway. Heck, we had driven all this way just to take the Cassiar south and come hell or pot-holes, mud or gravel, we were going to do it. But in the back of our minds we realized these motorhomes are expensive and they are our homes. If we broke down, got stuck or slid in a ditch, it would be impossible to contact anyone since there was no cell phone service and pay phones were 100 miles apart. It could take several days for a large tow truck to get to us and it would have to come from hundreds of miles away. We devised a plan. We would not tow the Honda CR-Vs - Rich would lead in their motorhome, Diane and Linda would follow in the CR-Vs, and I would bring up the rear in our motorhome. I thought it was a great plan because if I saw Rich get stuck in a mud-hole or slide off the road I would have time to stop. After leaving the campground we stopped at a service station to top of the fuel tanks and the man behind the cash register asked if I was heading up or down the Alaska Highway. I said neither - "We are driving down the Cassiar Highway." He shook his head and said, "That road is in terrible shape with pot-holes and mud the first 60 miles. Drive 15-mph and I think you can make it. Be careful" WOW, that was all I needed to hear and I did not relay that information to the other three people. It was a 13 mile drive on up the Alaska Highway into Yukon Territory before we turned left and saw our first view of the Cassiar. We started slowly, held onto the steering wheels tightly and peered as far down the road as we could see, looking for the first of many anticipated disasters. But the road was paved and relatively smooth. During the first 20-30 miles we did hit several sections that were gravel and very dusty (Rich and the girls disappeared from my view often) and we slowed to 15-mph. But between those sections the road was paved and 45-mph seemed to be a good speed. Then the road got smoother and after driving 46 miles on the Cassiar we stopped and hitched up the CR-Vs to the motorhomes. A few miles down the road we found a place
where Linda and Diane had to stop - Jade City. They mine and sell British
Columbia Nephrite Jade and customers can buy completed jewelry or individual
gems. The store had a very large parking lot and they offer free overnight
camping (no hookups), but after the women made their purchases we decided
to move on down the road.
At Dease Lake we found a large gravel parking
area facing the beautiful emerald blue lake and we stopped for the night.
Rich and I broke out the grills and threw on some polish sausage and vegetables.
A special visitor stopped to visit. He was a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman
and after chatting a few minutes he asked if we were grilling fish. Now
we aren’t dumb. If we have been grilling fish from the lake he would have
asked for our fishing licenses. After eating we took lawn chairs down to
the lake and sat soaking our feet in the cool water while taking in the
magnificent scenery.
The next day we again passed beautiful scenery - lakes, rivers, snow covered mountains and glaciers. Every few miles pavement would disappear and the road turned to hard packed dirt and gravel, but it was generally smooth. If it had been raining that same road would have been mud so we lucked out. And I must say the bugs were terrible and at times the splatters on the windshield was much like driving in rain. At Meziadin Junction we left the Cassiar
Highway and drove towards Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder, Alaska.
A few miles before reaching Stewart we stopped at a gravel pull-out overlooking
a glacier with waterfalls and decided to camp there two nights. Wow, what
a beautiful sight and with the bedroom windows open the waterfalls’ music
put us to sleep.
We later moved the motorhomes to a campground in Stewart with full hookups including cable. There was a small grocery store / coffee shop in town where we could get free WiFi. Form Stewart we crossed the border to Hyder, Alaska. There was no border security check going into Alaska, but we had to stop and show our passports when going back to British Columbia. Hyder had a population of just under 100 inhabitants and no paved streets - only dirt streets. Their annual snowfall is 162 inches. We stopped at Eat At Bus for a delicious fish meal. Jim and Diana Simpson bought a school bus in 1998 and converted it into a seafood restaurant. Jim catches the fish and Diana cooks them one at a time so the meals are always hot and fresh. Just north of Hyder is Tongass National Forest. It is nearly 17 million acres in size and is the largest national forest in the United States and the largest temperate rainforest in the world. We drove north three miles to Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site and it seemed like a twenty mile drive. Traffic was bumper to bumper and the road was so dusty we had to drive with the headlights on and often use the windshield wipers to clear dust (dirt) off the windshield. We could only see about 20 feet in front of the car and roadside trees and plants were drooping with dirt. So why did we drive that terrible road two different days? It was to see the bears. Once at the site everything was calm and peaceful. A boardwalk paralleled the river and it was about 20 feet high. Salmon from the Pacific Ocean swim up the river to spawn and bears, both black and brown (grizzly), await them. It was interesting and educational to watch bears run and splash in the water to stir up salmon and then catch one and take it to the shoreline to eat their catch. When a grizzly approached the black bears ran away. On the other side of the boardwalk was a
lagoon with beaver, mink and deer all in a peaceful setting with bald eagles
overhead. The boardwalk was crowded but no one said a word or made a noise.
People would step forward to snap pictures, then step back to let other
go to the rail to make pictures. It was one of the most beautiful and relaxing
places we have visited.
Before we left the area we attended Stewart’s
first annual Bear Festival and it was not much to see. We did eat a pancake
breakfast and the highlight was a man making chainsaw carvings. Stewart,
British Columbia and Hyder, Alaska were a bit out of the way, but was worth
every mile we had to travel.
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