At Meziadin Junction, we see something new. An electric fenced compound for people sleeping in tents. Those of us who sleep in RVs and vans take our chances. Bears are strong…The side road to Stewart gives us a better view of the massive glaciers on the Coast Mountains. These Mexicans have ridden their motorbike from Guadalajara. Marta’s Spanish is improving…
I wonder if Icarus can dive faster.Marta has never been to Alaska – they wouldn’t give her a Visa 37 years ago. Hyder has no border control, so she just drove right in this time!Unfortunately, 36 hours before we arrive, a glacial flood from the Salmon Glacier has wiped out the road, the creek, and the bear viewing platform.
So we end up talking to a local, and we bond over our love of the Cummins 12 valve engine. His main gig is loading barges with 8000 tonnes of 100 year old copper smelter slag, and shipping it to Seattle. And in his spare time, he pans for gold diving in the ocean and showed us some nice pictures of nuggets. Doesn’t even have a YouTube channel. Underachiever…
We are now far enough north that people don’t care about going hiking. Trails, if they exist, are not maintained.The Stewart-Cassiar highway has amazing views, which makes for dangerous driving – no shoulders. Unforgiving for distracted drivers
This logging road didn’t take us high enough to hike, but it did have bears.We keep our eyes peeled for any roads that lead into the Alpine. Logging companies quit at the profitable upper edge of the forest, which is about 2-3 hours of bushwhacking from the alpine.
We don’t know why this road is here. It’s undocumented, has a couple weather stations, and a peak. Marta will take it.
I was surprised these mountain goats didn’t notice us right away, but when they did, they ran a long long ways… No sense in taking chances, I suppose.From Ehahcezetle, we look down on RedChris mine, where our friend Aga’s geologist son worked. Produces 50 liters of gold per year.Perhaps Szymon (the geologist) can explain what made this white stripe. I think this is all lava.
Fortunately I had some battery left over. We needed the drone to find our way down the mountain before nightfall.Jade City had a TV series made about it. Jade Fever. The Jade industry in northern BC is being shutdown in the next four years. Likely too many small operators making a mess.
There are lots of roads in the mountains around Jade City and Cassiar. When we come back, we’ll have to check it out.
Boya lake is fantastic, clean water, tons of fish. Not as warm as advertised, but I enjoyed swatting and feeding horseflies to the fish. Beautiful blue water, check out the satellite imagery in Google maps.FinallyWatson Lake is our resupply town before pushing north on gravel roads. This town’s claim to fame is they forgot to clean the signs of homesick workers in WWII, and now the signs have taken over.This little black bear was curious enough we got a photo. We learn from locals that young bears are like teenagers – dumb enough to cause trouble. If you are going to have a bear neighbour, they should be middle-aged and smart enough not to chew the hoses on your tractor.
So far, all we’ve seen is bears. And a few rabbits. No deer, moose, elk. Bears are just giant raccoons that run as fast as a horse.
In Watson Lake, I decided to make a fairly large repair before it strands us. I really need to do an inspection before taking a van out on a 10000km road trip.
Marta and Chester's Maleficent Adventures 