As soon as we arrived in Stewart, B.C., we found a place to have our vehicles washed. While they were being washed, we walked around town and had dinner. After dinner, we went back to clean vehicles! Unfortunately, when we got to the campground, we still couldn't get our slides out. Earl got the hose out and sprayed up underneath the fifth wheel and, after much work, Bill and Earl managed to get the slide out. I fired off an e-mail to Horizons to tell them of our displeasure with the fact that they had not better protected the slide mechanisms from road mud and grime. It had never been a problem before we encountered such muddy conditions as we had on the Alaska and Cassiar Highways. We did get an answer back that Horizons had a fix for the problem, so we'll have that taken care of when we go back to the factory for the rally.
On Friday and Saturday, we drove out to Fish Creek in Hyder, Alaska to watch the bears feeding on the salmon. The first time we were there, a black bear was feeding. When we went out later Friday afternoon, a mother grizzly and her older cub (probably a yearling) were fishing for salmon. The cub was chasing the fish toward his (her?) mother and the mother would catch them. Sometimes, it seemed as though the cub was just having fun chasing the fish, not really concerned with catching them. However, we did see him catch a fish of his very own. He took it over to the bank to feed and, when his mother came over to eat some, too, he growled at her. She did finally get a piece, though.
Black bear:
Looking for fish:
Baby Black bear:
Black bear & Grizzlies:
In the right picture, above, the bear in the foreground is the baby Black Bear -- I never did see a mother bear around any place. The two bears in the background are the mother grizzly and her cub.
Grizzly cub chasing fish:
Where'd that fish go?
Mama watching cub chase fish:
Just having fun!
Pouncing on a fish:
Success at last!
Saturday when we went back out to Fish Creek, the mother and cub were not there; however, there was a large male grizzly there busily eating a salmon.
Male Grizzly:
What was that?
I'd better go check it out!
While in Stewart, we also went to the Toaster Museum. It was a very interesting place -- toasters of all kinds, from the earliest electric toasters to more contemporary ones. Also included were different types of electric coffee pots.
On Sunday, August 26, we traveled 137 miles to the Cassiar RV Park in Kitwanga, B.C. The next day, we drove 74 miles to the Riverside Park Municipal Campground in Smithers, B.C. The campground is located on the Bulkley River and has nice, wide sites. Some of the sites have electricity and water, others just water. However, they are in the process of putting in 30 AMP service to all the sites.
Smithers is an interesting town with a population of around 6,000; however, it services an area with a population of about 30,000 and, therefore, has lots of shopping. The downtown area has lots of Swiss-style storefronts that have been added to many of the buildings. We did some shopping downtown and went out to dinner Monday night.
On Wednesday, we traveled 148 miles to the Beaumont Provincial Park where we spent the night and then, the next day, we made our way to the Sintich Trailer Park in Prince George, B.C. We drove downtown in the evening to have dinner at Ric's Grill.
The next day, Friday, we did some shopping at Costco and then went to Future Shop (now owned by Best Buy according to the salesperson) and bought a new TV. Our old TV in the living room had started to go t.u., so we got a new 24" Sony flat-screen TV.
Well, this is the end of our Alaskan adventure. We've had a great time traveling with Bill and Gisela, have seen lots of wildlife (although not as much as we would have liked) and awesome scenery, and have done a lot of things Earl and I didn't get a chance to do on our first trip in 1998. On Monday, September 3, we departed company with Bill and Gisela -- they will continue on to Jasper and Banff while we'll go south through the Okanogan Valley so that we can stop at a couple of slide-in camper manufacturers. We'll miss traveling with them, but will meet up again at the end of this month at the New Horizons Owners Group rally at Tuttle Creek State Park near Manhattan, Kansas.
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