Do the Stewart/Cassiar highway to or from AK?

Site 37 for me at Meziadin...no luck for me with the lakeshore or the hill sites as the campground was almost full that day :




Marvin was a great host and helped him out a little bit with all the work he was doing, as he told me it's almost time to finally start taking his vacation.

Out of the three BC Provincial Parks of the Cassiar Highway mentioned, I have never stayed at Kinaskin Lake PP just solely on the timeframe of my travels which seems I always reached the area around mid day, but it sure looks inviting when travelling southbound as it looks very scenic :


Boya Lake PP has that remote feeling with lots of trees and bugs as I occupied site 21 (at lakeshore) :


As far as Stewart and Hyder is concerned upon my first visit in 2010, I figured July would be ideal enough for fish runs to appear like practically everywhere else in Alaska...as July 9 to my surprise showed no activity for runs in Fish Creek as the USFS staff mentioned to me as early as Late July and later would be the best ideal time to visit there.

My second visit was a little more promising in September 2013 for wildlife viewing, although I only seen one brown bear at a far distance feeding in Fish Creek, a lot of fish and bird activity were happening throughout the day as one wolf was also spotted at a far greater distance.

Only good enough picture I have of brown bear at zoom mode :


Fish Creek :


On my way towards city hall, I was cleared by security :


I was also lucky enough to be personally greeted by the mayor of Hyder (rolled up the window real quick) :


Along with witnessing the Hyder Chamber of Commerce during a meeting :



Both my first and second visits in Stewart and Hyder were great sunny weather with clear skies (2010 and 2013), as in 2011 the Cassiar Hwy. had closed due to road washouts so that route was aborted, and in 2012 the weather was so crappy at Bell II lodge with low clouds and heavy rain funneling thru from the west, I decided not to make the sidetrip to Stewart and move on hoping I would have better weather in the Canadian Rockies....which turned out great for me as I really lucked out later on with 12 consecutive cloudless days of perfect weather thru the Kootenays and the Canadian Rockies and didn't see cloudy skies again until I reached Johnson's Crossing area in the Yukon.

The 2013 visit I timed it perfect upon Labor Day Weekend passing thru on the Cassiar Hwy. in the area with the major transmission grid line project going on, as there was no work activity over the holiday weekend which was nice with no road delays between the Bob Quinn and Bell II stretches.






So beware that they are still extending the grid line as every single turnout or cleared real estate along the Cassiar Hwy. of immediate work zone areas being worked on is occupied for staging all the infrastructure, supplies and equipment, so more likely there will be delays travelling thru work zones.

Wow. Very nice pictures.

Lakeside

Site 41 at Meziadin Lake provincial park campground

More great information... thanks!

Meziadin Lake, one of our favourites. Boya Lake is not too shabby either. Been lucky enough to get lakeside in the corner sites each time we were there.

We have stopped in both directions in the past and except for the bears at Fish Creek, not much difference. I am not much on bear watching, unless it is a Redfield 6X scope. My wife likes to take a few photos of them so we go out to the viewing platforms. One trip we stayed in Stewart at the Bear River Campground (name something like that) and it was real nice. They don't allow tents or soft sided popups. (known as meals on wheels for the bears) LOL.

On our previous visits we had a lot of rain to contend with so in 2009 we decided to stay at the provincial park at the junction of Hwy 37 (the Cassiar, the Dease Lake, the Stewart Cassiar or what ever you wish to call it) and the turn off Hwy 37A, going into Stewart and on to Hyder.
Mezeadin Lake Provincial park in one of the three provincial parks on the Cassiar Hwy and all three are just outstanding and in some of the most beautiful locations in North America. Boya Lake PP, on the north end is our favorite but the other two, Meziadin and Kinaskin are close runners up.

So we stayed at Meziadin Lake PP and then drove into Stewart and Hyder from there. The weather is much nicer at Meziadin Lake PP most of the time. The coastal region of Stewart Hyder is much like SE Alaska where the sunshine arrives in liquid form.


The lower sites on the lake shore, we like the ones about one terrace up from there on the hillside.



Great campground to walk around in, host on property, just well run and peaceful.


There is no longer fuel at the Meziadin Junction so fill up at the south end at Kitwanga.
The old, now closed, Lodge gas station at Meziadin Junction on the Cassiar Hwy.


The next station north is at Bell II lodge, a real nice place that caters to European heliskiers in the winter time.
Bell II Lodge


There is fuel in Stewart, but the station operates on a daytime schedule only, so check when they are open, if you plan to buy fuel.
Do stop at the Bus and have lunch, the fish and chips are the best every. The meals are cooked one at a time so it can make for a lengthy lunch but so worth it.

The bus, is about one street west of the main drag in Hyder, that leads out to the bear platforms. The guy in blue at the table is my BIL and then my wife and me standing. The zip lock bags hanging around are to keep flies away, I was told.

In later August, the bears enjoy a feast at Valdez too.




Joined by the gulls




I wondering what a fish is thinking when it is thrashing against the carcasses of its own kind?
Does it comprehend their death and its own impending demise?

Here is a link for the Northern B.C. Hwy cams you can see how springs is going in British Columbia. As well you can see the road conditions later this years as you travel.http://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwaycam/pub/html/www/index-Northern.html
Scroll down to The Hwy that your looking for.
There is also a handy distance calculator on the left hand side of the page, however looking at some of the estimated dive times and having driven a lot of the routes, I think they are a little low on a LOT of those estimates. I guess the word estimate is correct.
Soup

Bummer... I'll have been there and back by July. I thought Michigan had a late spring starting mid-May, but July, wow.

gmctoyman wrote:
We did it north bound in late July, saw every bear, except the Polar bear,

Yep, we were told that we were about two weeks early for the salmon run and grizzly bears at Hyder when we were there July 1-3.