While at the North West Truck Camper Rally I started making plans for what’s next… I’ve been tempted by the Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route (IDBDR), which is essentially an off-road route down the whole length of Idaho. There are BDR’s in other states too – tempting. The only thing is: these routes are designed for motorcycles… ! However, I saw a video of a couple that did the whole IDBDR in a Sprinter Van (they actually couldn’t do one section due to a wildfire). If they can do it in a Sprinter… then…
A second idea in my mind was to head to Alaska. Not the main part of Alaska, but a small southern portion, containing one almost deserted ‘ghost’ town, Hyder. Why there? Why not? Actually, because it is the gateway to the Salmon Glacier (back in Canada) – the largest glacier you can drive to, the 5th largest in Canada.
I think we can attempt both goals – first off: Alaska!
We drove north via the NE corner of Washington which I imagine to be beautiful as I could discern high mountains close by – but couldn’t see them for the smoke from wildfires. We crossed into Canada without any issues and made it to an interesting boondock up a long rocky track to overlook the town of Nelson. Except you couldn’t see anything because the smoke is so thick here too.
Frustrating not being able to see anything though. We made our way to a fantastic boondock at Skmana Recreation Area – run by a First Nation. A lovely little spot beside a small lake. Gazza has taken to catching tiny baby frogs – but it appears he’s not harming them! So peaceful and quiet here.
In the morning we took a walk up the hill – managing about 3 miles – with Gazza on and off the leash as his training continues. He was tuckered at the end of it – he’d probably done 15 miles to my 3.
I was going to stay for a second night, but in the end decided to move on. The smoke has gone! No idea how or why, but it’s beautiful out! We drove alongside Adams Lake which had a large amount of floating logs and then headed over the hills on a forestry road to Barriere and found an adequate boondock off a trail access road.
We continued our NW course the following days – first making it to Lassalle Lake near Prince George where we snagged a great (free!) campsite at the recreation area there. This allowed a productive following day in Prince George doing laundry (so glad I bought new cream colored sheets and duvet cover now that I have a dog!) and getting some provisions. Headed to our planned camp spot – which turned out awful, so we pushed on and found a fantastic secluded rec area at the end of a long track by Lake Richmond. Only 4 sites here, all well hidden from each other and one other camper was here. Very peaceful. So much so, we stayed another day, and I gave Bojangles (new name – nobody liked Gazza!) a bath and then a ride in the Kayak. He’s not a water fan, so I think the kayak will be sold when I get back.
As I approached our next campsite in Hazelton I was having déjà vu… turns out my selected campsite was one that Mindi and I stayed at last year! This time was rather busier however and turned out to be rather noisy.
I could have made it to Hyder the following day, but decided I’d prefer not to arrive on a weekend as it might be busier than normal, so took a back route along a long rutted and potholed gravel road and found a wonderful recreation site at Dragon Lake. What a bonus.
On our ride to Hyder the following day I saw 2 black bears – one of which I had to brake hard for as he’d just launched himself into the road around a blind corner! No damage done – and because I’d freaked him out, I got no chance for a photograph. This one was rather more sedate!
Arriving in Hyder was interesting – no border control – and the town was as expected, almost deserted, but bigger than I expected, with a long pier out to a small marina/boat launch.
I headed up towards the glacier. The scenery I could see was impressive but the glacier was throwing off huge amounts of cloud which prevented proper sightseeing. I spotted a road (disused?) off to my left, so decided to investigate. Not sure if this was the old road or a mining road – but it was blocked off at the end by a large rock fall. It presented numerous boondocking opportunities – so I camped right beside a waterfall on the side of the road.
Still cloudy in the morning, so I continued north past the glacier towards the active mine workings. What a good decision! As I crested the rise at the end of the valley, the next valley opened up with a pair of glaciers to my left and a high glacier on the mountain to my right – spectacular! I continued down into the valley where there’s lots of active (and abandoned) mining activities and passed what I assume was a workers camp. The road, now very narrow continued on and on – and suddenly widened and was long and dead straight… Shortly after that, it dived back into narrow twisty stuff, then abruptly ended at a river crossing. I turned around and came back to the straight and it dawned on me that this was a runway to serve the mine – so I parked on it and made breakfast! Fortunately, no planes arrived! (I think it’s disused.)
I made my way back towards Salmon Glacier, but the sky was still clouded over, so decided to find another campsite. Spotted a road off to my right and checked for it on OnX. Sure enough, it was an old mining road which led right down to the ‘lake’ below – this I have to investigate.
Unfortunately, I saw there was a camper ahead of me on the trail. As I drew up behind him I realized he was airing down in preparation for a water crossing which also had a nasty step up to it. I got out and we chatted. Jeremiah, Noela and their dog Riley. Really nice people… Jeremiah set off to maneuver the obstacle, while Noela filmed. My turn – and Noela filmed me too! The track was very narrow, very rocky and at one point very steep (25%+), rocky and narrow! Made it down very slowly and got to the next obstacle – another very steep section which Jeremiah and Noela had decided to check out on foot before driving it. Good job they did as the road was washed out and impassable. It would have been real fun trying to reverse back out from that! There was a flat area at the top of that hill and we decided to camp together that evening. We did several walks together with the dogs and I flew the drone over the glacier. Best day of the trip so far!
Jeremiah had his appendix removed last week and was told no work for 4 weeks – so they decided to go camping! With their limited time, they had to keep moving and they had a strange plan to drive to Haines then ferry to Juneau… we talked and by morning they’d decided instead to head to Tuktoyaktuk up the Dempster Highway. Good thing as it turns out Tok had a major wildfire which would probably have blocked their route into Alaska. They left camp around 7:00am – Bojangles and I decided on a more leisurely start. We made it back up the steep part and the water crossing using 4WD Low with front hubs locked and aired down the most I’ve ever done (20psi front, 30psi rear). Made it with minor skidding on some slabs of rock.
Stayed aired down as we reached the ‘main’ road which certainly improved the ride over the potholes, but it took an age to pump the tires back up!
On the way out I had hoped to get some fish and chips in Hyder at the one ‘restaurant’ but since it was only 9:30, they weren’t open, so I crossed back into Canada via their active border crossing…
Really glad I decided to come to Salmon Glacier – had a great visit. Now we’re headed south again towards the IDBDR…