Glaciers, Bears, and the Boonies

Glaciers, Bears, and the Boonies

Brown bear fishing

 After too much experience with urban camping in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Valdez, I found myself longing for the boonies again. A fine example of being careful what you wish for as we went to the other end of the continuum and camped on a gravel bar beside the Copper River. For the past 10 days we have mostly “dry camped” in Territorial and Provincial parks, and in some of the prettiest campsites of our trip.

After leaving Valdez, we retraced our path by going north on the Richardson Hwy back through Keystone Canyon. This time we stopped at Worthington Glacier Recreational Park and I had an opportunity to hike up to the Glacier. It was a wet hike because it is almost impossible to avoid the many icy streamlets that spread out under the lip. The alternative is to constantly climb back and forth over piles of jumbled glacial rubble. I decided that wet feet were preferable to twisting an ankle or taking a fall, wore sneakers, and just waded the streams. This is an ok strategy on a short hike when you have warm socks and boots back in the camper. It was well worth it to see the deep blue ice cave and the wonderful ripple formations.

Worthington Glacier, Up Close and Personal

 The Edgerton Hwy is a paved road that turns off the Richardson and goes for 33 miles out to Chitina on the Copper River. It then becomes the McCarthy Rd, and is dirt and gravel for 60 more miles to the Kennicott River. It ends there at a pedestrian bridge. You park your vehicle, walk across the bridge, and wait for a shuttle to take you to the little village of McCarthy and/or up to Kennicott Mill National Historic Landmark.  After crossing the river at Chitina you are in the Wrangell –St.Elias National Park and Preserve, the largest NP in the US system. 

The Park covers over 20 million acres and has the largest concentration of glaciers on the continent and the largest number of mountain peaks over 16,000 feet high. The photographs of its waterfalls, canyons, and other wonders are amazing. The problem? There are only two roads in to it. One is the McCarthy Rd while the other is a little track at Nebesna that is not very scenic. 

McCarthy Road

There are no designated campgrounds in the Park and the pickings are very scarce on McCarthy Rd so Butch and I opted to leave our camper on the gravel bar which is owned by a Native American Corporation. We met a great NA couple who were camping there while they fished for salmon. They assured us that they would watch our rig for us.  We spent the night there then drove to McCarthy & Kennicott and back the next day. It was a long day but we had a great time. 

Kennicott Mine National Historical Park

On the pavement again, we stopped one night at Tok, then camped at a YT government recreational area at Congdon Creek on Kluane Lake, the Yukon’s rival for Lake Tahoe.  We slid right through Whitehorse the next day with only a 15 minute stop at Wal-Mart for milk and bread. We were headed for Atlin, the most northwesterly town in BC, located on BC’s largest natural lake. The drive was just as beautiful as we had been told it was. Despite temperamental weather, the mountains, lakes and valley’s were stunningly beautiful.

Kennicott Mine

At Atlin, we had a fabulous campsite right on the lake beside a marina. We had an electric hookup but nothing else. As the storms that had threatened all day began to move in, we stayed up late (11:30) to see our first sunset in over a month. It rained all night and we decided to move on the next day. We were glad we did as we seemed to drive out of the rain.

View from our campsite at Atlin BC

We turned south on Friday from the Alcan onto the Cassiar Hwy. We crossed into BC and spent that night at Boya Lake PP. This is another gorgeous lake; emerald green and clear as drinking water. Temps were in the low 60’s and it wasn’t raining. Butch helped me inflate the solo ducky and I paddled around the lake after dinner. I was lying in the boat, just drifting along when I saw a rainbow. 

View of our campsite at Boya Lake

 Yesterday we continued down the Cassiar to the junction with 37a, the Glacier Highway, which leads to Stewart BC and Hyder AK. In my opinion, this 50 miles drive rivals the Going to the Sun Road at Glacier. On the south side are a series of glaciers, lakes, and the river; on the north side are innumerable waterfalls cascading down the mountains. At Stewart the road crosses the Portland Canal (Canada’s most northern all-weather Pacific port) and goes into Alaska at Hyder. This little “toe” of Alaska has no other land access and there is no US border station. (The Canadians maintain a station for coming back in.)

In the US the road continues for about another 25 miles out to Fish Creek Recreation Area and up to Salmon Glacier. Fish Creek is famous for its fabulous salmon runs and for the bears that come to enjoy the feast. The Tongass NF has built fenced decks along the stream to protect the bears and the spectators from each other. In years past there were 8 or 10 resident grizzles but this year they have only identified two or three. There is no explanation for the decrease of bear activity as there are plenty of fish. A decrease in the bear population has not been documented but is suspected.

In any event, Butch and I dutifully showed up and patiently waited at about six o’clock in the evening. Within 45 minutes a huge female grizzly arrived and fished up one side the creek and down the other for well over an hour. It was awe inspiring to watch her. She is a magnificent animal and seemed oblivious to being watched and photographed. 

Tonight we are in Terrace BC with full-hook ups and internet. We are leaving the TT here tomorrow and making a day trip up to the Nisga’a Lava Beds. I guess this will be our last off-road adventure in the North Country.