You almost get inured to the beauty that surrounds you here. The mountains line both sides of the road and you pass into the boreal forest. Kettle lakes and beautiful rivers are everywhere but you have seen so much beauty that its almost anticlimactic. Then a bear wanders onto the road and you brake hoping that you can stop in time.
Of course we were going slow and so we didn't have any problem and that's what was good about this segment of our travels. It was a three bear day as the black bears were in the ditches eating berries. Added to this a moose and all in all a good days drive for animals.
The road was so so for the first bit. Its pretty typical here to have steep ditches with no shoulders and so the driver must concentrate on the road and not the scenery. When we get parked for the night I upload Renitas images and get to see things I have missed.
We drove through four construction areas, one of which involved helicopter lumbering. There we had to wait about thirty minutes, and it would have been longer, but the crew shut down for lunch. Huge slash piles were all along the road waiting for winters snow and the wet to keep their burning under control.
The bridges are really different as they use planks here for the roadway surface and the layout is not the usual one you see for wooden decking down south. On one bridge the surface was being replaced and several others were only one lane. The use of wood seems so normal however as you are surrounded by forests.
Turning down to Stewart and Hyder the road descends gradually and hanging glaciers appear. Stopping is prohibited as there is danger of ice fall and avalanche even in the summertime. A huge avalanche was along one side of the road and I have never seen such giant slabs! We pulled over for Bear Glacier,(a legal turnout) and again admired the blue ice and the river appearing from its snout.
This drive could arguably be the prettiest one we have been on although the approach to Valdez is also filled with waterfalls. My favorite waterfall here was one in which the water actually poured off from the surface of ice and then descended into a series of plunges each rivaling any waterfall I have ever seen before.
We crossed a long single lane wooden bridge and entered Stewart, parking in the very first campground. There we met Paula and Norm, a couple we had first met on our trip up the Alaska Highway. You might recall Rick and Karen and the Escapee group that traveled in a small and unofficial caravan.
Regardless we are here for three days and hope to see the bears feeding on pinks and silvers. The campground has warnings as bears and wolves wander in and out of it and it is highly recommended that you stay inside during the night. Its a warning we plan on obeying! Clear skies
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