For the last few weeks we’ve been going back and forth between Alaska and British Columbia.  We camped in Stewart, BC but drove in for the day to Hyder.  Hyder is our last stop in Alaska.  So sad that we are leaving this great state for good.

There is a wildlife viewing platform in Hyder.  There are otter in this pond.  But we didn’t see any.

This river is full of salmon spawning.  The bear come to catch salmon in the river as an important part of fattening themselves up for the winter.  We even stayed until almost 10 pm one night to see them but they never came.

Another beautiful view of the river.

Hyder is pretty run down.  These are typical structures in the town.

And then this.  A woman converted this old bus into her “restaurant”.  Her husband catches the fish and she cooks it.  Best halibut burger!

After hanging out hoping to see bear fishing in the river, we drove for about an hour on a gravel road to Salmon Glacier.  It’s the fifth largest glacier in North America.  We’ve seen lots of glaciers but it was well worth the drive.

The “toe”of the glacier.

Goodbye, Alaska.  We loved you!

Headed down the Cassiar  Highway on our way to Stewart and Hyder.  Burned trees from a previous fire and smoke from current fires made for an eerie scene.

But then these old burnt trees still make for a beautiful reflection in this pond.

Our beautiful campsite on Boya Lake.

We finally could take our kayak out.  80 degrees and a mirror like lake was perfect.

Mike and Cindy

And back on the road.

Forest fire.  They just let them burn unless they are a threat to structures.

And another beautiful campsite on a different lake.

And signs of autumn in the leaves on August 2nd.

But spring like flowers.

Another gorgeous drive under our belts.

Woke up one morning to this.  Thankfully, we were in a campground and not on a highway with nowhere to pull over.

Teamwork.

After putting on the spare we get ready to leave the campground.  And then this.  Turns out someone forgot to disconnect electrical from their tow vehicle and ended up draining tow vehicle battery overnight.  Rookie move.  Not saying who.

And then a few hours down the road, stopped at a gas station and one of the Belleville’s trailer tires is down to 20lbs.  It had what looked like the tips of a pair of scissors in it.

These guys are getting good at getting the spare out from under the trailer tongues. Again, so thankful they were able to change the tire in a gas station parking lot instead of on the side of the road.

So now between us we are driving with eight trailer tires and no spares!  And headed out on a road with very few services.  Not good.  So we find a campground to spend the night in and the guys have what they call a board meeting to decide what to do.

They drove in to a small town the next morning which was about 15 miles out of the way, praying that someone would have the tire we needed.  They were able to buy one new tire for us and fix Mike’s tire!  And then we were back on the road with two spare trailer tires between us. There are a lot worse things that can happen on the road up here but nonetheless, thankful for God’s provision.

This was the same road we drove into Skagway minus the clouds.  It was a gorgeous drive.

We’ve had no cell service for four days so I’m a bit behind and the cell service we have now is a bit sketchy.  But stay tuned for the next post.  It will be titled “And then Stuff Happens”

Our next stop was Skagway. It was a beautiful trip.

The search is still on.  In this case, I would say bigger is not necessarily better.  That thing was huge.

This is Emerald Lake.  It lives up to its name.

And on down the road.

And then we were driving IN the clouds.

And then a peek of sunlight!

When it comes to campground reservations, we don’t make them.  Even in Denali which is one of the most crowded places, we only called the day before to get camping reservations.  We don’t want to lose the flexibility in our travel plans because we have to be somewhere because of advance reservations we’ve made.  So far, no problem.  Until we hit Skagway.  We probably would have called a few days before but we had no cell service.  So we got there and the two rv parks were full.  We pulled in anyway and talked to the young gal in the office who manages both parks.  She bent over backwards to accommodate us!  For the four nights we were here we had to move to three different spots but we were just so grateful that she worked with us.  The first night, she gave us these spots with this view of the small boat harbor and the cruise ships.

It was so evident that she really cared about her job and the tourists who came to visit Skagway.  And all this management of reservations and sites is done on paper spreadsheets.  She was the best.  We gave her a bottle of wine and a hug.

The town of Skagway is a cruise stop and the town is very touristy.  Translation.  Lots of souvenir and jewelry stores.  But come late afternoon/early evening when the ships left, the town was quiet and more quaint.

This building is completely covered with driftwood.

The Red Onion Saloon

And I just had to include this picture taken in the rv park.  Unlike the people who travel with very modest rv accomodations like in the picture in my last post, these people, in my opinion, are a little over the top.  That even carry their Smart Car with them along with a giant fifth wheel rv.  I can’t imagine how much they spend on gas and how difficult it would be to get into campgrounds.

And then we took a 45 minute ferry ride for the afternoon from Skagway to Haines.

Two cool guys.

68 degrees is warm enough for a beach day for Alaskans.

And on our way back to Skagway.

Heading back up the road tomorrow where we encountered the clouds.  Tomorrow is suppose to be a sunny day.  Should be a beautiful drive!