The last caravan stop, Smithers, BC

August 31, 2015

Leaving Stewart on our way to Smithers, BC, our last campground of the caravan

 Looks to me like two sleeping giants guarding the glacier. The rounded tops on the mountains indicate the glacier probably covered the mountains before it receded.

 Another wood decked bridge

 The beauty of the landscape

We arrive at the Riverside Park, Smithers, BC

Hyder, AK

 August 30, 2015

The purpose of coming here to Stewart, and Hyder, AK was to see the bears that are usually feeding on the Salmon at this time of year. However, this year, the Salmon ran early, so the bears have already been here and gone. A real disappointment for all of us!!

Did you get the memo about the bears??? It's on the bulletin board







This is what rain

looks like, which is
what it did the whole
time we were in
Stewart Hyder









A small slide, probably brought on because of
all the rain

Stewart City Tour

 August 29, 2015

It has rained and rained and rained while we have been in Stewart. As luck would have it though, we had a break in the rain during the time we were scheduled to go on this city tour. But, of course, I had put in my order for better weather for the tour and as throughout the caravan, for all tours and outside events, the rain held off!!

 Above: you stack your wood neatly and under cover if you are heating with it. It will take a lot of it, so it has to be neat!

Left:  This is the Stewart Museum and govt offices, including a court room for those minor offences that don't require moving off to a bigger town.

The Historical Plaque for the Museum building

 Mining was a big deal in this area, back in the day. So, there are a lot of old abandoned mines with miles of tunnels just waiting for someone to step in and get lost. Very dangerous, not only can you get lost in one, but they are no longer stable, the slightest twinge in the earth's core could cause the whole thing to come crashing down.

 Up here in the millions of square miles of wilderness, the Coast Guard is to go to guy for emergency medical care and rescues. In case you are not aware of the Coast Guards role in Alaska, check out the TV show on the Weather Channel called Coast Guard Alaska.

 People in green jackets (mostly) converge on the town of Stewart.

 In Stewart, when there is a really high tide, the water flows into town, so unless your house sits on stilts, you are likely to be flooded. Also required are sump pumps, they are suppose to pump the water out of the basements. It was interesting to go into the hardware store in town and look through the items required specifically for this region.

 Stewart is surrounded by mountains, topped with glaciers that are melting. Therefore, everywhere you look there are waterfalls

Want to spend summers in Stewart? Evidently there is a major shortage of contractors and getting anything done, from minor repairs to major renovations. If you want a new house built, you better plan of 3-4 years of construction. You have to get a contractor, and then you have to have plans (there isn't an architecture in Stewart), then after you get that part done, ALL of the materials have to be shipped, trucked or air lifted into town. Then there is the limited amount of  time outside work can be done.

 Even a handyman worth his salt could make a lot of money during the summer season up here.

This is a relatively new house, took approximately 5 years to build from start to finish. Living here must take lots of patience!!

 This old church had it's first service in 1910

 The gardens and tennis court of the big house

 This is a real fixer upper

But, this is worse. Apparently, some guy from Arkansas bought this, came up a couple of seasons to work on it, but hasn't been seen this year, so no one knows if he is coming back.

 This whole house was raised and the basement added

 We arrive in downtown Stewart

 A rolling pup tent???

 An early snow mobile???

 The hotel 'Ripley Creek Inn' finds these old buildings, refurbishes them and then rents them out as rooms of the hotel. This one was the brothel.

 Registration office

 These are core samples left over from the mining operations. Core samples were taken of the rock to determine if whatever ore they were looking for was evident. Most of the mines around Stewart were copper mines.

 I saved this little critter from being squashed. Wonder what kind of butterfly he will make.

This old hotel is being haggled over in probate court. Not for sale yet, but it maybe. According to our guide, Shirley, it was beautiful inside during it's heyday. She says that if it goes on the market, she may buy it and put a condo on this back corner.

 The Historical Marker on the hotel

Love the weeping willow, maybe I'll plant one in Little Rock.

Destination Stewart, BC & Hyder, AK

August 26, 2015

Very hard getting up this morning after being awake from 3 to about 4:00 am to watch the Northern Lights, but it was so worth it!!

 We are continuing our travels south on the Cassier Highway. Still no center line or shoulder, but it really hasn't been as bad as the Milepost made it out to be.

 Another narrow, metal grated bridge

 The Cassier Mountain Range, a little fresh snow on the tops

Wooohooo, we have paved road and a center line!! Still not much of a shoulder though, and it's a steep drop off on the right!!

 The fireweed has gone to seed, remember at the beginning of the trip it was a deep pink or red, now they are white and fuzzy looking

I love the fall colors, these trees haven't changed yet, but they are getting lighter and the contrast is pretty.

 The junction of the 37 and 37A, where we continue on straight to go to Stewart.

 There are signs along all the highways warning of slide area, don't stop. This is a slide that happened some time back. The layer of soil on the rocky mountains is thin, a heavy rain could be enough to cause the soil to lift from the rock and let go.

Glacier rock, poor in nutrients for anything to grow on it, it remains bare

 This is Bear Glacier, another of the quickly receding glaciers, it has made it's own lake for the run off.

Notice the different color of the rim? We seem to have somehow ground the disc break down to nothing causing the break fluid to drain and discolor the rim. This also means we had no trailer breaks. Phil had a mechanic come out to the RV park in Stewart to look at it. He capped off the line to the front wheel and put more break fluid in, so now we at least have 3 wheels that have breaks. Better than nothing!!