Dease Lake

Dease Lake is a little town on the Cassiar. Nothing much to do there. After getting some gas and groceries we swiftly continued because we wanted to get to Whitehorse before the night. Some 20 miles out of Dease Lake the car started acting funny; the cd player went off and on and all the meters (speedometer and tachometer) fell to zero while braking. Very scary. After checking all fuses we decided that we would continue onwards. We didn’t get very far because the car decided to give up. Being virtually in the middle of the road we were very happy that 2 friendly Alaskans were willing to help us get back to Dease Lake. They figured that our alternator stopped working and our battery was depleted. They jump-started us 4 times in total - each time was good for 9 or 10 miles. Later that evening we bought them dessert as they were having dinner in the same restaurant as us.

We found a mechanic who asserted that indeed the alternator was dead and had to be replaced. Since his personal collection of junked cars, trucks,tractors and piles of spare parts didn’t include anything that was foreign-made, we would have to wait three days before a new one could be brought on the delivery truck from Terrace. At the Northway Motor Inn where we had checked in, we told them that, unfortunately, we needed to stay for 2 more nights, which would be a lot of money on top of the car repair costs. Sheri came up with the unexpected proposal of cleaning rooms and doing chores around the motel to lower our room rate. They found the proposal a bit strange but agreed to give us a kitchenette room (with stove, fridge, and microwave) for $20 per night less than the regular rate and free use of the laundry room in exchange for 14 hours of manual labor.

With nothing much to do in town and a choice of 3 television stations, we figured that it was a pretty good arrangement. To add to our excitement, on Thursday morning, we discovered that one of the tires was flat. The timing was actually very good, because we were able to drive the car to a shop (well, junk-yard/waterdelivery/wrecking service/auto repair“facility”) where they put a patch on the tire so that we would be ready to hit the road when our new alternator finally arrived. When it did, we said goodbye to Dease Lake and finally completed the last153 miles/246 kilometers of theCassiar (sadly, without seeing any more bears).

Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska

Along the Cassiar, we saw 7 black bears (including a mom and cub…see photos) and lots of incredible scenery featuring snow-covered peaks, emerald-green lakes and a few small communities. We decided to take a short side road to the mining town of Stewart. Stewart is reached by a 60 km road passing very closely to Bear Glacier and the gorgeous coastal mountain range that separates Canada and Alaska. (Note: Canadians use the metric system and use their own currency (complete with pictures of the Queen of England) which makes comparing prices to American products and services quite tricky.)

Stewart is the northernmost ice-free port in Canada and there is lots of interest in the proposals to create a rail line to connect to a large container port. At this point, however, the town is quiet and charming. People here were talkative and seemed to be in no hurry to get on with whatever is was that they had to do. We spent quite a while talking to a guy who prided himself on knowing the names of all the famous Dutch skaters. Aside from his statement about Canadian athletes, (“They are less competitive than American athletes; theyjust want to make a personal best in World competitions rather than win.”) he had plenty to say about local politics and the elections that took place on the17th of May.

From Stewart, it’s a 3 km drive to Hyder, Alaska, a run-down town of about 100 people that explodes with tourists in July and August as the grizzlies return to the local Fish Creek to feast on spawning salmon. We went to the bearviewing area even though we knew it was too early in the year to see bears and, lo and behold! Sitting along a sidecreek, was a black bear seemingly just woken up from his hibernation and just taking its time to look around. Including the next black bear that we saw crossing the gravel road on the way to view another glacier, we saw 9 black bears in three days! A new record!

British Columbia (BC)

Jeez, this province is huge! We crossed over into BC after we left Jasper National Park on the Yellowhead Highway. This two-lane highway just seems to go on forever. Coupled with the fact that we just bought a power converter to connect the laptop to the cigarette lighter of the car we have ample opportunity to write for our weblog. We passed lake after lake as well as rivers (notably, the Fraser), streams and creeks, fields full of dandelions in bloom, and freshly leafed-out (beautiful fresh green) aspens and birch interspersed with spruce trees. Along the road, we spotted several moose, a black bear, and a large cat-like critter, not to mention the enormous ravens that are common in these parts. The llamas and ostriches we saw along the way were probably not indigenous.

From the Yellowhead Highway (16), we turned north onto the Cassiar Highway (37), a 450-mile (724 km) mostly paved road that was originally built for logging and mining. These days, with the Liberals in office in BC Government, mining and logging are back in full swing and the road is in excellent shape for the big “rigs”carrying logs or ore.