Boondocking in Hyder?

[AnneM]

I'm working on our 2015 itinerary. We want to spend 1-2 days at Hyder (mid-August) to see the bears and do some local sightseeing (Salmon glacier).

I've read that the best thing to do to see bears is be there as they open the gates at 6AM, and again around closing time, say 8-9PM. My question is how do we position ourselves as close as possible to the viewing deck the night before? I guess we have to be in Hyder (not Stewart) for that? Can we boondock somewhere near the gates, or in town? It seems like such a very small place... Any specific recommendations would be very welcome.

[SideHillSoup]

Something to look for on the road up to Salmon Glacier:

When driving up the road to Salmon Glacier, you will leave BC ( Canada ) and enter Alaska, then after the Bear Viewing area a little ways down the road you will re- enter BC.
Look at the tops of the Power Poles on the side of the road and the cross members.
The way to tell when you re-enter BC is that when in Alaska the cross members are kinda in a triangle fashion and when in BC the cross members are like you usually see them just across the poles at the top.
Reason for the different configuration of the cross members or so my DW tells me is it has something to do with the protection of Eagles . My DW is also from Stewart and she grew up there during the Gande Duc mining days, so I am taking her word on this one. 🙂
The power lines lead up to the Big Missouri Mine, which you can also drive by, however is is not on the main road to Salmon Glacier, and gets it very rough going after the mine and should not be driven unless you have a 4X4.
Soup.

[Rushoak]

Thanks everybody! Looking forward to trip in two weeks. Gettin close. Hope I can get lucky with sun one day, but will settle for just a decent view.

[AnneM]

Thanks for the pictures, additional info and the link!

[sue_t]

Salmon Glacier seems to go on and on in both directions




The left side in the above image ends like this (toe of the glacier)

[fanrgs]

You get two completely different viewing perspectives between Bear Glacier and Salmon Glacier. Salmon is one of the few glaciers you will see, except by flying or a major climbing effort, where you can look straight down on a large mountain glacier from a nearly vertical position. Here is Bear Glacier, looking across the valley from Hwy 37A:



And here is Salmon Glacier, looking down from the Salmon Glacier - Granduc Mine road:



If you are interested in the geology along your road trip, take a look at my blog from last summer's trip at Milepost Alaska Highway Geology.

[garyhaupt]

IsraeliMom wrote:
I just browsed thorough Google images and found this -


Is a 25ft motorhome considered large for this?

Pretty neat, eh? This is a fair long ways north and in very rugged country. Although there are lots of people in the area, in fact, it is quite remote.

The towns of Hyder and Stewert have a sharing relationship with medical care, even. Hyder has none and Stewert has, so, the folks from Hyder (US) come to Stewert (BC) for care. And if you are familiar at all with politics..;) you will understand just how magical that is.

Come winter...6 months out of the year, they must be very self-reliant. Road closures are what happens and the snow fall can be fierce.


Gary Haupt

[Tinyandthegang]

Rushoak wrote:
Is it wise to try to go up to salmon glacier in a regular auto? Assuming you take it slow.

When we went last summer there were lots of cars and even the occasional small motorhome on the road.

[AnneM]

I just browsed thorough Google images and found this -


Is a 25ft motorhome considered large for this?

[garyhaupt]

Morning joe..when a person drives up there, it's more of a 'distant view'. You don't get to go right up to it or anything..it's like..over there. But, it's a pretty neat view all the same.

A person can see lots of claims being worked and so on, but as far as getting into the old mine site, naw, not gonna happen. Maybe with ATV's but even then, there are gates and boulders rolled into place, to make travel less that a walk in the park.


Gary Haupt

[joe_b_]

The road out to the bear viewing area, goes on to re-enter BC. This road was in heavy use, back when the Granduc Copper Mine was working in that part of BC. One of our forum members, Murray, worked out there for sometime, before moving north to Carcross YT. As I understand, it was one of the largest copper deposits ever found in North America. They had a bad snow slide out there at the mining camp that killed over 20 workers as I remember. The mine operated for about 20 years and the ore concentrate was shipped out, by truck to Stewart and loaded on ships to be sent to the smelters. Not sure what is remaining of the mine, the buildings, etc. or if you can even access the area, as I am sure it is still considered to be a private mining claim. Perhaps Murray, (explorenorth.com) can share some light on this.
I personally have never driven out past the bear viewing area, as seeing glaciers in Alaska, is very common when flying throughout the state. To many people, such as the OP, glaciers are not something to be seen where you live, so easy to understand the desire to see and photograph.

[AnneM]

GordonThree wrote:

Rushoak wrote:
Thanks for the reply and advice. For me getting to Alaska for my first time and being able to view Salmon Glacier (weather permitting) will be my highlights of a road trip from Spokane. I also will circle back thru Jasper/Banff in Aug.

The bear(?) glacier you pass along the way in to Stewart is pretty spectacular. you just don't get to see the icefield that powers it. try to time your visit for sunset or sunrise, so the lighting on the glacier is most dramatic. if you're going to Jasper, you'll pass by ice fields you can drive up to / touch ... or even walk on (illegally but hey)

You can walk the athabasca glacier near Jasper if you go on a guided tour. Do not attempt to do that on your own though. We did the guided tour and heard some scary stories about tourists who tried to self-tour the ice and fell into cracks and crevices.

If you take the bus there, they drive you through the ice and then let you walk in a safe area on it. The other option is to hike with these guys -
http://www.icewalks.com/

We did it with our kids and it was quite the experience. My husband and kids thought it was a breeze. I thought it was really hard. That's me in the picture, trying to navigate my way very slowly with two poles..

[GordonThree]

Rushoak wrote:
Thanks for the reply and advice. For me getting to Alaska for my first time and being able to view Salmon Glacier (weather permitting) will be my highlights of a road trip from Spokane. I also will circle back thru Jasper/Banff in Aug.

The bear(?) glacier you pass along the way in to Stewart is pretty spectacular. you just don't get to see the icefield that powers it. try to time your visit for sunset or sunrise, so the lighting on the glacier is most dramatic. if you're going to Jasper, you'll pass by ice fields you can drive up to / touch ... or even walk on (illegally but hey)

[Rushoak]

Thanks for the reply and advice. For me getting to Alaska for my first time and being able to view Salmon Glacier (weather permitting) will be my highlights of a road trip from Spokane. I also will circle back thru Jasper/Banff in Aug.

[garyhaupt]

Rushoak wrote:
Is it wise to try to go up to salmon glacier in a regular auto? Assuming you take it slow.

Yep. The holes aren't deep. The biggest problem is likely that of sharp rocks, so if it were me, I'd carry a can of that Tire Inflator Flat Be Gone crud. And yes, take it slow. It not really that far...as in not a 6 hour drive or nuthin.


Gary Haupt