Tag 16: Stewart,BC / Hyder,AK - Meziadin Lake: Bear Stalemate

July 28, 2024

The night was quite short as we want to try our luck on the bear platform this morning once again.

Two spots next to us, I spotted a German couple in a truck camper. Hihi, funny. They were also with us on the observation platform last night, but left long before us.

This morning I only get to see the campground in daylight. Yesterday it was quite dark. The shower and toilet house is fine. Unfortunately, there are only showers with a curtain, which wasn't too appealing. The husband complains about cold water - since I haven't tested the shower, I can't comment on that.

Our site is quite large, we had no direct neighbors last night.

The Wifi was reasonably fast; we can't complain. We prefer the Rainey Creek CG location over the Bear River RV Park at the entrance of Stewart. It is pretty far from everything and the many trees give Rainey Creek CG a touch of a Provincial Park Campground.

In contrast to yesterday’s weather forecast, it is not raining today! It is cloudy, but dry. Phew.

We start at 8:30 AM towards the bear platform, the Fish Creek Observation Deck. The clouds are hanging extremely low over the sea. Today it probably would not have worked with Salmon Glacier either...

The clouds are distinctly lower than yesterday.

On we go to Hyder. Again today, there is no border post to Hyder/USA, only back to Canada.

At the river, we see several bald eagles, but we can nowhere stop to take a photo. The first parking lot at the platform is full, but there is not much going on in the back parking lot.

Unfortunately, there is just as little going on in terms of wildlife sighting. Both ducks, beavers, and bears seem to still be sleeping; the only large number of caterpillars that crowd the dock are active 😵‍💫

After almost 2 hours we give up.

No bear, no beaver, no duck, just a few salmon fighting upstream. Too bad.... 33$ wasted - but well, it's for a good cause.

By the river, we stop and see a bald eagle in the distance, which I quickly capture with the camera. At least one wildlife sighting outside of the caterpillars 😜🐛

Lightly disappointed, we drive back to Hyder and take some 'Ghost Town' photos here.

The border crossing goes just like yesterday. The (not very friendly-looking) border guard asks us about alcohol and cannabis, checks all passports, license plates, and lets us go without another word. Today I also see the signs behind the border that I didn’t notice yesterday in the dim light:

We drive back along the sea to Stewart.

Back in Stewart we explore the Estuary Boardwalk starting from the Visitor Center.

We see some birds and Canada geese in the distance, but that’s all.

Since it is only 12 o'clock, we drive through Stewart and walk the little trail to Spruce Tree and Beaver Pond, but the latter is completely overgrown and inaccessible.

The trail to the Spruce Tree can be done. It is nicely laid out, and the gigantic trees are definitely worth seeing. However, the detour to the Beaver Pond can be skipped.

Moreover, there are indeed mosquitoes here! And this faction seems to have only been waiting for us. Thanks to OFF spray, we only end up with 3-4 mosquito bites. Pests! But well, we can't complain here:

we had NO mosquitoes in the last 15 days (and so far no bites 🦟🦟🦟😅

We walk back to the camper and slowly make our way to Meziadin Junction.

Again we pass by waterfalls and snow-covered mountains. Unfortunately, we see no wildlife along the way today either.

We make another stop at Bear Glacier. The visibility today is not better than the day before yesterday.

After we only fueled a few liters in Stewart (1.99 CAD/Liter 😮), we stop again at the gas station in Meziadin Junction. However, the savings are not as great as hoped (1.94 CAD/Liter). We fill up 100 liters but will probably have to refuel tomorrow, since the next 600 km do not look good in terms of gas stations.

While we are refueling and I cleaned the window, a stowaway crawls out from under the alcove and drinks the water drops still stuck to the window from the windshield washer fluid 😁

At 2 PM we reach our campsite at the Meziadin Lake Campground. Great campground, but if you don’t have a site by the lake, you basically have no access to it. And with the small island in the bay, the lakeside sites are really nice. I reserved in advance and - as it turns out - snagged the perfect site number 46.

Trees for privacy, a small beach access, space for neighbors, and electricity on top. Yes!

In the lake, many children and teenagers are frolicking with SUPs and canoes or swimming. Brr... this would even be too fresh for me right now...

And of course, the perfect view of the island. We are thrilled.

After lunch by the lake, it unfortunately starts to rain. We use the time for route planning, checking images and videos, and chilling.

I realize that my eSim is no longer working. Even though I have several GB left, the SIM did not want to connect to the network again today in Stewart. Damn! I fear this switch to the USA / Hyder did not agree with the eSim. It had strangely connected somewhere there because I suddenly had the Alaska time on my phone. Today that was no longer the case.

I don't know if that is the reason. The next days it doesn't matter anyway, since there will be no cellphone network until Watson Lake. We’ll see if it works again in Watson Lake. At the latest in Whitehorse there should be a network available. Let's see.

But to my great surprise, the Meziadin CG has WIFI! Although only 30 minutes are free per device, after that it costs money; but that’s perfect for me. This way, I can surf the net for a total of 1.5 hours on my 3 devices and even send pictures 🤪

By evening, it stops raining, the sky clears up, and the sun comes out. Hooray! After dinner, the wind has completely died down and my son and husband dare to jump into the cool water. Respect! (Okay, the husband in neoprene 🤣).

Later, we walk around the campground. There are hardly any rental RVs here. The space is firmly in the hands of local holidaymakers with huge trailers, pickup campers, and tents. We see a German retired couple with their 'camp truck', but we don’t see Fraserways & Co.

Sadly, we are not allowed to have a campfire 😩

It would have been really cool right here by the lake. What a shame 😢

In the evening, there are still teenagers jumping into the lake and swimming to the island. However, the camp host doesn’t find that funny anymore after sunset and calls them out of the water 'loudly' long after 10 PM. Probably for the best....

For the statistics:

Campground: Meziadin Lake Provincial Park Campground

33 CAD (~22 €); Site 46 (Electricity)

Driven: 91 km

Walked: 6 km

Photos: 299

Weather: cloudy 13-15 degrees