Three Days in Stewart, British Columbia

Situated at the end of the 90-mile-long Portland Canal, surrounded by majestic forestry and the Cambria Icefields, resides the small town of Stewart. Founded in 1902 by Robert M and John W Stewart, Stewart has been a mineral exploration icon since the early years of the 20th century. By 1910 Stewart and Hyder (then known as Portland City) were joined by a two mile long “road” made from pilings across the tide flats. The area then hosted close to 10,000 people who were still residing in tents, waiting for buildings to be built on the pilings much like the “road” between Stewart and Hyder. Some of these buildings and pilings can still be seen on the tide flats today.

Along the 40 miles drive from Meziadin into Stewart, many beautiful glaciers can be seen from Highway 37A. Descending towards Strohn Lake and Bear River Pass is the Bear Glacier. Ice once reached across the road to the rock face, but once it started receding in the 1940’s, it created what is now called Strohn Lake. Stop at this viewing point and take in the breathtaking views of the glacier and the rich forestry surrounding it!

We stayed at the Bear River RV Park from Monday, August 12 to Thursday morning, August 15. It is a good sized Campground (70 +/- sites) close to downtown Stewart & Hyder; it has new owners, new gravel sites, new gravel access roads, new electric hookups (30A) & new water hookups. The sites all have shared (full) hookups, essentially making them “buddy sites” - a few spots will function as pull throughs until they fill up. This continues to be a work in progress, with the new owners stepping up to make this the best RV campground in the area.

Why Stewart you might ask? Just 5.9 miles from the Stewart Visitors Centre is the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site (Bear Viewing Platform) in Hyder, AK. The US Forest Service and The Alaska Department of Fish and Game make sure to offer a safe environment for our wildlife and people. In July and August, tourists make their way up and down this platform to watch the salmon run and bears hunt the salmon.

Tuesday morning at 7AM we hitched a ride with our new friends, Mike and Mary from Redding, California, in their truck and crossed the border, yet again into Alaska to get to the viewing platform early. We stuck around for about two hours but unfortunately there were no bear sightings. There ar plenty of Chum Salmon swimming up the river to spawn and die, and plenty of Seagulls getting in on an easy meal, but no bears.

We then drove up the dirt road, passed the viewing platform, to the Salmon Glacier. Located on the Canadian side of the border beyond Hyder, AK about 23 miles, you come to the summit of the magnificent Salmon Glacier. The unpaved road leads you up to 4000’ elevation, journeying through rich forestry and old mine sites.

On the way back we stopped at the bear viewing platform for another try. No luck again so we drove back over the Canadian border to Stewart to eat some lunch, take a nap and try again at 7PM.

Tuesday night proved to be the big payoff. When we first arrived there was no activity, however the rangers were very animated. We knew something was coming soon. We did notice one brown bear at the far end of the platform moving away and really too far to photograph but we took what we got, not know anything else might happen that evening. Boy, did we get a wonderful surprise! Stay tuned for the next episode.