Hyder; The Town That Alaska Forgot.

The first two stops on the way to Hyder we had a heavy frost both mornings, the second morning the temperature was 29 degrees when we got up. All the way down we were seeing fresh snow on the mountain tops, the drive was beautiful. The pictures look good but don’t really do justice the the magnificent scenery we are viewing.
When we arrived in Hyder I was wondering why we were here, Hyder is the town that Alaska forgot. Their only claim to fame is the Grizzly Bears that congregate there to feed on the salmon that come up river to spawn. The National Parks Service has built a very log deck to see the bears from. The bears walk right under the deck and grab the fish right in front of you. The only problem is most of the bears have stopped coming.
If they don’t return, Hyder is in more trouble than it is now. They rely on the tourist for their income. The only other industry in the area is mining. When you leave BC and enter Hyder the road turns to gravel and all the roads in town are gravel. There are only about five miles of road. All are dead end roads. The mail service runs twice a week on Mondays and Thursday and is flown in and out by a small float plane from Ketchikan, Ak.
There is no medical service for the resident other than going just across the border to Stewart, BC. It cost them $500.00 just to walk in the door. The Postmaster said his Doctor is in Seattle, Wa. The is no law enforcement in town and I noticed that many of the vehicles tags had expired. There is no cell service in the area and their regular phone lines are a Canadian exchange.

On the road to Hyder.

On the road to Hyder.

On the road to Hyder.

On the road to Hyder.

Rainbow at campground.

Coming into Hyder.

Leaving Hyder you can see
the Canada Customs check point.
The US has no customs coming into Hyder.

Hyder Harbor

Float plane landing,
This is the same type that carries the mail.
Christopher and Amelia
your post cards went out on a plane like this.

We were only about 30 feet from this grizzly.

Grizzly bear in the creek.

View as I start my hike back to the other glacier.
The other hikers said they had already
reached their goal at this point

Road from Hyder to Salmon Glacier

Salmon Glacier as it makes it's turn.
This glacier is still over 1000 feet deep.

Salmon Glacier

This is a glacier that I hiked back to.

You can see the groves and gouges made by
the boulders pushed along with the glacier.

Haines and Juneau, Alaska.

We have been in Haines, Alaska for the last four days. Haines is another harbor completely surrounded by mountains. We leave tomorrow, Friday for Hyder, Alaska. We have to go back through Yukon Territory and British Columbia and it will take three days to get there.
While we were here we were able to see several Grizzly bears feeding and many Eagles. There are over 400 resident eagles with another 4200 due to migrate here in October.
Our last day here we took a catamaran to Juneau, Alaska. We saw many Humpback Whales on the way over and back. While we were there we took a quick tour of the city and got to see a nearby glacier. The harbor here is so deep the large cruise ships tie up right the shopping district just fifty feet from the street. Juneau is landlocked, the only way there is by plane or boat.

Lighthouse on the way from Juneau.

Whale going down.

Three Whales.

Four Whales

Water fall near the glacier,
note the people standing at the bottom.

Glacier

Glacier

Sign at the glacier.

Grizzly cub with fish.

Grizzly bear.

Haines Harbor.

Haines Harbor.
Road to Haines.

Valadez, Alaska; The end of the pipeline.

Our next stop was Valdez, Alaska. Valdez is the end of the 799 mile long pipeline. This is where the crude oil get loaded onto tankers for refining in the lower states. There is one refinery in Valdez that processes only diesel and heating oil.
Valdez is in the upper part of the Alaska pan handle. The town and bay is surrounded by mountains.
The campground here was primarily fishermen. Several species of salmon are already spawning and the streams and rivers are full of dead fish and bears feeding.

Part of the Valdez Harbor

Black bear feeding on the dying salmon.

Three cubs.

The road into Valdez

Poles to guide the snow plows through the pass.

Glacier near the road.

Road to Valdez

Colorful mountains.

Our next stop was in Palmer, Ak, just north of Anchorage. In the mid 1930’s the US Government decided to establish a community of farmers in the area to supply fresh vegetables for the residents. They offered farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota forty acres a new house and barn. They would provide all the transportation and finance the $3000 cost. Many of the original houses and barns are still in use, they were all built by the CCC during the depression. ( learn more http://explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-matanuska.htm )
We also visited a Muskox farm, in the late 1800’s they were hunted to extinction and were reintroduced in the 1930’s. They can only survive in the colder climates. They comb the under layer of fur that sheds in the spring, this is spun into a yarn that is called Qiviut. This is warmest yarn known, it sells for over $400 dollars a pound. Most of the animals at the farm were very friendly.
We also went out to an old gold mine that is now a state park. Some of the buildings have been restored but most are falling down.

Mom still likes to take pictures of flowers.

River in Palmer area.

Muskox

Note how long the hair.

Very friendly.

View of mine gold area.

View of mine gold area.

View of mine gold area.

Ore cars and battery powered engine.

View of mine gold area.

View of mine gold area.

View of mine gold area from the top of the hill.