Yukon Ho!

June 17, 2006

July 10, 2006 on 1:02 pm | In Uncategorized |

Biking time: 9AM to 1:30pm
End: Stewart/Hyder
Distance: 62km
Our night in the cabin seemed to be mouse-free and bug-free, and was definitely rain-free. We woke up early so that we could have breakfast and ride to Stewart before everything in town was closed. Breakfast was good (good enough to get us to stewart without a lunch break), and the road was amazing. It started out a bit cold, grey and hilly, which was not too bad except for the thought of having to backtrack back out the next day. After about 10km, it started getting a bit more mountainous and the climbs got higher. The highway (37A) is literally squeezed between a mountain and a river for much of the route, and it goes right past Bear Glacier and the lake into which it drops its meltwater (and icebergs). By the time we reached the glacier, we had to put on our neoprene gloves and waterproof booties because the cold wet downhill riding was freezing us to death. Fortunately for today’s ride, most of the second half is a gradual downhill since Meziadin is at about 300m elevation and Stewart is a port town at sea level. After some great descents, we decided that we really didn’t want to backtrack on our bikes, so we’d try to hitch a ride with an empty truck or an RV on the way back out on Sunday. WIth that in the back of our minds, we were able to enjoy every inch of downhill sweetness.

As we rolled into Stewart, most of the buildings were shanty-like, and we were really worried about getting slapped with another depressing abandoned logging town. Luckily the downtown was in full operation with several restaurants and hotels, as well as a grocery store and a hardware store. Our first stop was at Silverado’s Cafe for an amazing pizza lunch (chicken, veggies and a special garlic based sauce). Our server was really nice, and another server overheard us talking about bikes and started going crazy over biking with us. She is a hardcore road cyclist who moved to Stewart with her husband and sold off the cars because the town is mostly one road with a few surrounding residential streets. She loved us to death, and asked the owner if we could store our bags there so that we could ride our bikes unladen into Alaska. So our next stop was Hyder, AK which is 2km out of stewart and directly across the Alaska border. I had expected Hyder to be bigger and busier than Stewart because it was an american town, but it was really nothing but a ghost town. With a population of 60 to 100 people (depending who you ask), it had nothing more than a few bars and a few gift shops (As well as some camping/lodging facilities). They didn’t even have a bank, so all of their banking and shopping is done in Stewart. All of the stores and prices are in Canadian dollars. What’s funny is the highway leading through Stewart to Hyder is the only land access to the town. The only other way in and out is by float plane (which the US postal office there uses). So when you cross into Hyder, there is no US border guard. WHen you cross back however, there is a canadian guard, and despite having nothing but the clothes on our backs and two bikes, we were asked for our ID and given the standard (though nonchalant) grill. We did notice one hunting and ammo store in Hyder, so perhaps there is a worry about Canadians crossing over to buy guns.

After crossing back over, we went on a short mission to check out the schoolyard where we’d hoped to camp in a gazebo we saw from the road. After discovering that the gazebo was some sort of storage house for oil tanks, we figured we could just use the yard. On our way back downtown we passed a couple out gardening, and instead asked if we could borrow a piece of their yard. They told us it would be fine (and that was the extent of our conversation with them). So we went and bought groceries, retrieved our stuff, and set up the tent before heading for dinner (and drinks… our first chance to P-A-R-T-Y cause we got to). Our friends at Silverado’s even let us leave our food inside their restaurant so that we wouldn’t attract bears to our neigbourly sleeping space.

Dinner consisted of salad and appetizers at Bitter Creek Cafe, which was an amazing place with all sorts of antiques in the dining room (including a fully functional 1930 Pontiac which they used to take out for parades). They even made their own chocolate there. Dinner prices were kind of high, which explains our food choices. All of the beer was under $5 which was not too bad considering the remoteness of the town. It was starting to rain as we crawled into the tent, but it’s cozy in there so it didn’t matter at all. I’d have to say that Stewart (And the road leading to it) is worth the 60km side trip if you ever happen to be up this way.

Click here for today’s pictures