There & Back Again (Great Bear Part II)
- nwriversphotograph
- 11 minutes ago
- 6 min read
We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”
― There and Back Again
There and Back Again is Bilbo’s memoir in J.R.R.Tolkien’s 1937 book the Hobbit. For Bilbo, memories are adventures (i.e., a venture to Smaug’s Lonely Mountain) that he wished had never happened to him. In this, I am different, I look forward to each new travel and experience, and so, for me, the name symbolizes a happy journey to a destination and then returning home (Bellingham for me and the Shire for Bilbo). Of course, I haven’t run into Orc’s or dragons (yet), just wildlife and wilderness.
No matter the destination, getting there and back is a major part of any trip and just as important as what happens at the end point. As soon as I walk out the door, the experience begins, and it really doesn’t end until I walk back through my door (and maybe not until I pay my bills and see what else has gone down since I left!). When Bilbo returned, he found his hobbit-hole and all of his possessions were up for auction as his neighbors presumed him dead!
In late September, the destination was British Columbia’s (BC) Great Bear Rainforest (Great Bear) with my wife Stephanie. For us, this is at least a two-to-three-day journey. We have friends that can drive the twenty + hours straight through, but we drive slow with lots of breaks to look around with my camera, and to investigate almost every side road we can find. That is two to three days of wonderful exploration, always looking to see what might be around that next bend.
And plenty can happen! On other trips, we have endured breakdowns, road closures and detours for fires and floods, as well as hail, sandstorms, and heavy snow. Throw in emergency camera stops for the occasional roadside moose and getting anywhere can be (and often is) a trip in itself.
"Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to make.”
- Angela N Blount -- Once Upon A Road Trip
So many great roads to follow! Favorites include the Beartooth Highway in Montana that reaches 10,947 feet at Bear Tooth Pass (now closed for the season). Route 101 through Washington, Oregon and Northern California, until it turns into the Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1) weaving amongst California’s giant redwoods and along steep cliffs and incomparable sandy beaches. Nearer to Bellingham, Route 20 over the North Cascades Highway with views of Liberty Bell and Washington Pass. My wife and I drove over just two weekends ago to hike to Cutthroat Lake, a favorite destination to see the changing fall colors. As I write this, Route 20 remains open for now. So many great drives and destinations! Across the US, there are a total of 187 National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads.
The trip to the Great Bear is no slouch when it comes to beautiful drives. Once in BC, we headed up the Fraser Canyon Scenic Highway (Route 1) as it follows along the Thompson and Fraser River with stunning mountains, wild sheep, and close-up views of some tremendous rapids and whitewater. Eventually Route 1 turns right towards Wells Grey Provincial Park and Banff/Jasper National Parks. For our destination, we continued straight north along BC’s Route 97 which runs for more than 1,200 miles from the US border to Watson Lake on the Yukon border and the historic Alaska Highway.
The section from Cache Creek to the city of Prince George is named the Cariboo Highway, and just a few miles north is a must stop at Desert Hills Ranch Taco Stand. The taco and tostadas stand (really a full restaurant) is part of a larger greenhouse and farm market, and this is definitely the best food for many miles. Be wary ordering ice cream -- each scoop is about the size of one of the haybales in the front yard. At Prince George we turned left along Route 16, part of the Yellowhead Highway that runs across western Canada. Once on 16 we are headed for the coast and the land of bears, wolves, and whales.
Heading west, we started wandering off to visit areas where we have seen wildlife before. Stopping at several lakes to watch beaver and kingfishers, and then to several salmon streams to see if we can find bear? At all of these, we found salmon, thousands of them, but no bears and no eagles. I have never seen so much food with nothing dining on them!
We spent time with friends in Smithers, and the next day to took a detour north along the Stewart-Cassier Highway (BC Highway 37). This is a wonderful road to drive, a great entrance to Alaska, and with stunning beauty out each window. More importantly, it is a great place to see bear.
We just dipped a toe into Alaska as we headed west along Highway 37A and the last 40 miles to Stewart BC, where we camped for three nights at the Rainey Creek Campground before crossing into the US at Hyder. We spent each day at the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site along Campbell Creek. Again, very few grizzlies but a ton of salmon. However, BC and Alaska made up for the lack of grizzly by providing over two dozen black bear along Highway 37A, eating fish and berries, and preparing for winter. On that road, you follow and cross the river at least three times – there is a reason it is named the Bear River!
In Stewart (population of just over five-hundred), our campground hosts Mary and Rob recommended an amazing Mexican and South American restaurant, El Tostador. Mexican food in a tiny, remote town on the edge of true wilderness?? Yes! And maybe the best Mexican food we have ever had? Everything on the menu was wonderful and we went back as often as we could. On another afternoon, after a full day of watching for bears and driving to high elevation glaciers, we stopped at The Bus/The Cabin in Hyder for fish and chips. Hard to find off the main road on Cottonwood Street, but well worth hunting down. Halibut caught fresh that day, sometimes Dungeness Crab. Family run (husband fishes/wife cooks), no website, cash only, open only in season and while the fish lasts -- it is delicious seafood just plucked from the net.
We could have spent our entire month in this area, but we had a boat to catch, and more places to visit. We packed up and sprinted back down to Highway 16 along the Skeena river to Prince Rupert. We had no agenda here, other than to drive down and back up the river, and because we just love visiting this area. Traveling along the Skeena is so beautiful, and we were at river level the entire way, in close proximity to the salmon, eagles and seals that call the Skeena home.
We traveled back up the river to Terrace, and then hooked south to visit Kitimat where we would meet our crew and other passengers for our weeklong Great Bear trip on Ocean Light Adventure’s sixty-foot vessel Afterglow I.
The good news! Once off the boat, we had the entire return trip to look forward to (There And Back Again). And of course, it all looks so different (and equally enchanting) when you are heading in the opposite direction. And for us, our friends and neighbors in Bellingham were happy to have us back, a much better homecoming than Bilbo found in Hobbiton. Unlike Bilbo, where travel left him feeling stretched thin, like “butter that has been scraped over too much bread,” we returned fully rejuvenated, and excited to see what the next adventure brings.
Still 'round the corner there may wait -- A new road or secret gate; And though I oft have passed them by, A day will come at last when I -- Shall take the hidden paths that run -- West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
Roads Go Ever On, a walking-song by JRR Tolkien
To continue with our adventure as we motored among the islands, inlets and channels within the Great Bear, go to my website page Thoughts and Images from the Field and read my last blog Alive In the Wild!
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