Do the Stewart/Cassiar highway to or from AK?

We did it north bound in late July, saw every bear, except the Polar bear, including the Kermode (white black bear...and I do have pictures ). The oil field traffic on the Alaska Hwy is a put off to me.

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GordonThree, planning on going the same way, around the same time. We have done it twice north to south. Thought we might fool everyone this time & go the other way. Hope the road is in good shape but we have built in at least a few days spare for the unforeseen.

lakeside013104 wrote:
Thank you folks for the great information. RV.net is the "best" because of folks who take the time to share their experience.

x2 on that!

Thank you folks for the great information. RV.net is the "best" because of folks who take the time to share their experience.

Lakeside

I agree, do the Cassiar on the return trip later in the season.

Stewart-Hyder is a must do stop

After watching the photographers watch the dying salmon for 4 hours we gave up on seeing the bear. Apparently they , the bears, come out early which at that latitude is pretty early. As we drove back into town, right in the middle, a black bear walks out into the road, stops traffic. and continues on into the woods.
I asked at the Pharmacy/store why would the bear be in the middle of town when he should be out eating the salmon. Store clerk sez even the bears like to get away from the tourists occasionally.

When going back into Canada through customs I noted that a very large caravan with 30 plus class A and toads were going in the other direction. I mentioned to the lady custom agent that there is not sufficient parking space in the US town to stop all those vehicles. She said they will stop. But getting them untangled to leave will take a day or two.

pops

The Cassiar won't be showing any issues until spring thaw is well-underway. Give it until early June. Most of the water that floods the highway comes down from higher elevations so the flooding can go well into June and even July.

It is also spring thaw that creates the many potholes and pavement breaks. The Alaska Highway is usually better maintained as it is a major transportation route to Alaska.

The road to Salmon Glacier takes a bit longer to open in spring, also because it is in the higher elevations of the mountains.

In late summer the southern portion of the Alaska Highway (Fort Nelson to Dawson Creek) is very busy with commercial vehicles. The gas field companies have trucks going both directions too fast, in a race to wrap up their drilling seasons before the snow flies. We often felt like we were in an Indy race with the semi-trucks; they don't seem to appreciate RVs slowing them down.

For some reason, I feel the Cassiar is more scenic southbound. Not sure why, but it seems so. Maybe because as the passenger I get to look out the window at the coastal mountains, rather than across the truck and out the driver side.

We were in Stewart-Hyder in early July last year and we were too early for the USFS bear-viewing. All we saw was a black bear at the town dump in Hyder. So, if it is bear photos you are after, you are better off doing the Cassiar on the way home. However, our best bear viewing was on the road to the fish hatchery in Valdez--mama grizzly and 4 cubs. My wife took 125 photos of them.

Also, if you want to see fall color along the Telegraph Creek Road, take the Cassiar on the way home. However, most people going to Alaska do it that way, so the campgrounds in Stewart are more crowded late in the summer.

Whichever way you decide to go, do not miss seeing Salmon Glacier. It is spectacular regardless of the time of the year you are in Stewart-Hyder.

Do Stewart/ Hyder when heading south, better chance of seeing the Bears catching the salmon when they are headed upstream to spawn.
Soup

Me too!? Planning to take the Yellowhead out of Jasper to the Cassiar, later half of May... return trip will be on the Alcan back to Edmonton, and then further east on the Yellowhead... my goal with the Alcan is go be going against the flow, since I think more folks will be heading west as I'm going east in the later half of June.

Anyone local to the Cassiar, or driven it yet this year, any washouts or other major problems?