Day 56
Tuesday, August 2
Stewart/Hyder

5:45 A.M. came all too early this morning!! I was sleeping soundly when the alarm sounded. At 6:30 we met up with Robert and Bet and headed to Fishcreek. Stewart was very quiet as we drove through. I guess they were all still asleep! We made it to Fishcreek about 6:50 and there were about a dozen others there. They told us that "Dogbear" came shortly after 6:00, ate 5 fish for breakfast and had just left. We stayed around until 8:00 and headed back to Hyder for breakfast. We stopped at a bar that served breakfast.  There are 2 bars in Hyder and they have a ritual that tourists can take part in. It involves drinking a special drink - who knows what all is in it - recite some oath, and then you are "Hyderized." Apparently you need a designated driver to get you home. 3 of our friends went to the other bar last night to be "Hyderized."They plan to go back to this one tonight. They claimed that the bar last night didn't do a very good job. Who knows??

Breakfast was excellent. They had homemade bread for toast and French toast - very good!! We came back to the RV and showered, fixed a sack lunch and drove 21 miles up the mountain road to Salmon Glacier.
 
 

It was a nice drive up - lots of waterfalls and great views.   When we finally reached the summit, we looked down on Salmon Glacier. It was kind of like you were flying over the glacier. Instead of looking up at one, we were looking down on a glacier.
 
  You could see where it came from an ice field about 5 miles back up in the mountains, and then it split an went in two different directions down the valley. Moraines (dirt and gravel kicked up by the glacier) were on both sides. Ken, the Bearman, was selling books, DVD's and postcards up at the summit. He talked to a group of us about the glacier. He told us that off to the right arm of the glacier there was a large lake. Each year it builds up with water melting from snow and ice in the mountains and when it gets to a certain point, the ice dam breaks. This happened last week. When it does happen, all of the water from the lake pours out under Salmon Glacier. It runs under the glacier and comes out on the far end of the left arm. As it comes out, it breaks off large chunks of ice that float on down the river. We saw many large pieces of ices at the toe of the glacier as we were going back down.

It is 4:30 now and after while we are going to Hyder to eat at the bus. The "bus" is just that, an old school bus that has been converted into a kitchen.  
They cook mainly seafood, crab and salmon, and serve it out the window of the bus. You eat outside or they do have a room inside if you want. After that we are going back to Fishcreek to try to see the bears one last time. At Fishcreed we saw a mama black bear with a cub and a giant grizzly. The black bear grabbed a huge fish and took off with her cub. The grizzly sniffed where they had been and tried to find them but later came back to fish. He got two fish but only ate one. The Ranger told us that they won't eat male fish. They only eat the females so they can get their eggs.  
 

Tomorrow we go to Smithers, B.C. It's about 200 miles to get there. I hope to get my oil changed in Smithers before we head out on Friday.
I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow. Till then - Happy Trails.