Dave through the Americas - 8.16.02 Amazing scenery on the road to Stewart and Hyder

We got up early to a very chilly morning. Frost had actually collected on my panniers. We packed up our things as the sun rose and headed South, as usual. It looked like it was going to be another clear, hot, sunny day. During the morning, a pickup passed me and slowed down about 10 meters in front of me and started honking. Bear. I saw that they kept going and figured it had run off into the forest. As I passed the area, I didn't see anything. I waited for Thomas to warn him and it turned out he had seen a black bear in the area just as I passed near the road. He told me there was also a dead one on the other side of the road. The other bear had run off into the woods, so we circled back to check out the road kill. The bear was swollen, so we could tell it wasn't hit this morning. Probably a couple days ago. There was a foul smell too. I took a couple of photos and then we left the uncomfortable scene. We pedaled more or less downhill to the Southern Bell-Irving River crossing about 25 miles away. We cooked up some soup at the rest stop and took a break before crossing the river and heading for some major uphills. The road improved greatly and even had a shoulder! The roadside scenery changed as well. There were fragrant yellow flowers covering the hills near the road. The violet fireweed flowers were still in bloom. Purple and violet flowers lover to the ground, and elder berry bushes with bright red berry clusters made a colorful scene during our uphill climbs. We rode into Meziadin Junction around 3pm with about 47 miles already completed on the day. We had a burger at the junction cafe and filled up on coffee. I called dad and he told me he purchased a rear derailleur for me off of E-bay at a good price. Hopefully I'll get it in Prince Rupert and will be able to smooth out my gear problems. Thomas and I took off for Stewart and Hyder, which is about another 40 miles down a split off of the Cassiar Highway. It took a while before we really got into the mountains. Headwinds were very strong and we had some climbing to do. After about 15 miles, we reached Bear Glacier, a huge glacier that ends at a lake where floating chunks of ice that have calved off can be seen. From Bear Glacier, the scenery became more and more amazing. The road winded through the valley with steep mountains on each side. Other glaciers could be seen peeking atop some of the huge mountains. I felt so small riding through this land of large green trees atop the steep cliffs. As we gradually made our way closer to sea level, I photographed the huge mountains with veins of water trickling down in the form of spectacular waterfalls and flowing creeks. It was clear this land was undergoing constant change. As we passed over the glacial fed creeks, we felt the rush of cold air from the ice cold water below us. The last 20 or so miles was a nice decent through a variety of scenery. Sometimes we hugged the rushing Bear River, or crept in between the walls of steep cliffs that gave me a surge of adrenaline similar to peering off a tall building. Towards the end, we were in a fog of light rain with thick forest all around. The smells and look of the forest were much different than those at higher elevation. It reminded me of a tropical rainforest. We finally made it into Stewart around 7:30pm and hit the grocery store to get some goodies for dinner. As we rode through the town, we kept an eye open for a good spot to camp, but nothing really stood out. It was going to be a little difficult tonight being in town with so little daylight left to work with. We went over to a bar and got a six-pack of Budweiser to drink with dinner, a very rare treat. We rode around town and parked the bikes near the school and started cooking. We ate our noodles and toasted each other on our accomplishment of a long scenic day of cycling. After dinner, we found a good quiet spot to set up camp near the school. Before bed, we talked about our plans for tomorrow: internet at the library or cafe, checking out the bears feeding on salmon at Fish Creek, and then leaving town in the evening. (87 miles)

Peace

Dave

Pic: Black Bear roadkill

Pic: Bear Glacier

Pic: Awesome!