Day 13 – Thursday, July 12th (260 miles, Smithers, BC, CA to Stewart, BC, CA):
Best day of the trip so far! Its hard to describe just how amazing today was overall. The scenery was beautiful (best I’ve seen so far), I met some great people, the weather was near perfect, and I was able to see some wildlife – hard to beat today!
I have been looking forward to this day for a long time. Getting on the Stewart Cassiar Highway has been one of the most anticipated parts of my trip from the beginning. I left Smithers, BC around 8am and headed towards Kitwanga, BC at the southern start of the Cassiar Highway. The ride up to Kitwanga had been great; again following mountains, a river, and passing through smaller towns.
I filled my gas tank in Kitwanga then began riding north on the Cassiar Highway. My first stop on the highway was to see some totem poles in Kitwanga that had been built many years before, some well over 100 years ago, by the natives that lived in the area. Its amazing that the poles are still standing tall after all of these years!
After viewing the totem poles and taking a few pictures, I got back on my bike and continued riding north. About 20-30 miles north of Kitwanga, I watched a mom black bear and her two cubs cross the road about 30 yards ahead of me, the first bears I have seen on the trip so far. As I kept riding, I ran into some construction work and a one lane road and had to wait about 20 minutes in a line of cars and RVs before we were all able to continue going north.
My next stop was at Meziadin Lake to take in the beauty of the surrounding mountains and clear water of the lake. Almost every campsite at this lake was full from other tourists, many enjoying the scenery as well.
As I got to the Meziadin Junction, I again filled up my gas tank and took a left down Glacier Highway towards Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK. What a beautiful ride this was! Mountains and thick forests were on both sides of me with countless waterfalls and streams coming off of the mountains. I eventually came to Bear Glacier and stopped for a few pictures as this was an absolutely beautiful place and one I would recommend to anyone visiting this part of BC. I then continued riding till I got into Stewart and stopped at the visitor center to find out what my next course of action would be.
The lady at the visitor center had suggested that I take the road up to Salmon Glacier and check out the view there. She mentioned I would need to go across the border into Hyder, AK and then take the gravel and dirt road up to the glacier. At the time, I did not know how rough this gravel/dirt road would end up being, but if I had known beforehand the conditions of the road, then I may have never taken the trip up to Salmon Glacier. My bike is certainly not built for these types of roads and this was the first time I had ever ridden off-road in my life!
After my short stop at the visitor center, I got on my way and crossed the border into Hyder, AK (no border agents as Hyder is basically a ghost town) and made a stop at Fish Creek to see if any bears were around. Unfortunately for me, the salmon had not yet begun swimming up the rivers, so the bears had not come down from the mountains quite yet. I then continued to ride towards Salmon Glacier, avoiding pot holes constantly and doing my best to make sure my bike didnt go down. About halfway to the glacier, it began to rain quite hard, which made for even worse conditions and turned the dirt portions of the road into mud. I eventually made it up safely to the glacier viewpoint but could not see much as there were clouds covering the view. I stayed up at the viewpoint for about an hour, talking with other tourists and a “local legend” that goes by Bearman (from New Brunswick but drives to Stewart, BC every summer, for the entire summer), before I decided that the cloud cover would not be moving and I needed to get back down the mountain to find a place to stay for the night.
The ride back into Hyder was much quicker than the ride up the mountain and this time with no rain. I crossed back into Stewart, BC and got a hotel room at the King Edward Hotel. While I was unpacking things from my motorcycle, I met a recently retired guy on a BMW motorcycle that had ridden up to Deadhorse, AK and was now on his way back to his home in Arizona. He was also staying at the same hotel, so we decided to get dinner inside together and continue the conversation. We spoke for about an hour and then had another younger motorcyclist from Minnesota join us for a while longer. These small conversations and quick encounters with other motorcyclists have by far been the best part of the trip. Hearing the different stories, experiences, and personal backgrounds has been very enjoyable for me so far and has opened my mind to so many different perspectives.
After having dinner and conversation, I headed to bed around 10pm so that I could get an early start for the next day. Overall, an absolutely amazing day and one I will never forget!
Totem Poles in Katwanga
Bear Glacier on the way to Stewart, BC.
Salmon Glacier – cloudy almost the entire time, but breathtaking view!
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