Dease Lake to Stewart, Canada/Hyder, AK

Today was a very good day of riding.  I was hoping the Cassiar Highway was as good as it was when I rode it in 2014…and it didn’t disappoint.  Mountains—many snow-covered, lakes, rivers, even a couple black bears 🐻 along side the road.  The road was in decent condition and there was very little construction. Truly a fantastic ride.  

Temps remained in the high 50’s to mid 60’s and the sun was out almost the entire time.  

We stopped for some soup and a sandwich at the Bell 2 Lodge about mid-way down and got right back on the road.  

Between the Stewart/Hyder turn-off at Meziadin

Junction and Steward, we stopped to view the Bear Glacier.  Truly awesome.  We’ve seen more than a few glaciers on this ride, but this was the closest one so far.  

We arrived to Stewart, British Columbia, by 3pm and rode right through town to the Alaskan border; there’s no immigration or customs checkpoint.  Per my buddy Brad’s suggestion, we stopped in at the Glacier Inn bar and got “Hyderized.” That’s a quick shot of Everclear that the bartender then lights on fire on the bar.  

We had to try the famous halibut fish and chips at Premier Seafoods—it’s a small shack off a side street run by a local lady—and it was tasty.  We sat with a group of Italians and talked about our travels.  

We rode over to the Fish Creek bear observation site where bears come to fish for salmon and you can watch them from a raised platform. Didn’t see any bears, only some German tourists and lots of salmon.  

Now, getting BACK into Canada was a different story.  Even though we’d only been in “Alaska” about an hour and even though the towns are 50 yards—oooh, sooory, 50 “meters”—apart, the immigration guy was all business.  Almost comical.  But we did our part and were back in Canada like we’d never left.  

Luckily, there was a helpful sign explaining the metric system to us as we re-entered the Great White North.  

We found a campsite in Stewart and set up tents before 7pm.  Firewood 🪵 was $5 an armload…and we have big arms 💪 so Steve had a roaring 🔥 in no time.  

Under 250 easy, fun miles for the day.  Steve referred to them as glorious miles, and I would agree.