August 7 – Driving to Stewart, BC

Before leaving the Nass valley that morning, we took some time to check out the two lava flow trails near the campsite. The visitor center at the entrance of the campground was open, so we walked in to read more about the the volcano eruption.

 

The Nisga’a oral tradition tells the following story of how the volcano erupted (from nisgaanation.ca):

Long ago, two children were playing down by the river. One child caught a salmon and slit open its back. The child stuck sticks into the salmon’s back, set them on fire, and returned the fish to the river. The children were amused to see the salmon swim erratically, smoke rising from its back. The other child caught a salmon and slit open its back, inserted a piece of shale, and put it back into the river. The salmon floated on its side, weighed down by the shale. The children laughed at the struggling fish. An elder happened upon the scene and warned the children, “Take care what you do. The salmon will curse you and the Creator will respond in kind.” The ground began to tremble and shake. Nature’s harmony had been upset. A scout was sent to investigate. From the top of Gennu’axwt, he saw smoke and flames and ran to warn the people of their fiery destiny. In panic, some villagers fled up the mountain. Others canoed to the far side of the river but were killed by the lava. As the people watched the lava flow over their villages, Gwaxts’agat (a powerful supernatural being) suddenly emerged to block the lava’s advance. For days, Gwaxts’agat fought back the lava by blowing on it with its great nose. Finally, the lava cooled and Gwaxts’agat retreated into the mountain where it remains to this day.

The shortest way back to Highway 37 is via the continuation of the Nisga’a Highway, east of Gitlaxt’aamiks. The road is barely more than a dirt track, and a bit narrow in parts so I could see how it would be a bit challenging for big RV’s, but our Jeep had no issues.

Upon reaching Highway 37, we headed north to Meziadin junction, and stopped at Meziadin Lake, a really pleasant provincial park and campground, with RV spots right on the water.
We had lunch and Brice chatted with another traveler about RVs and brake systems, etc…We’ve been enjoying sleeping in a tent so far, but I could definitely see how traveling this way for a long period of time would warrant a more sturdy set-up. We saw some really big rigs along the way, people whose home was basically on wheels and traveled up and down the country year-round. To that effect, we saw lots and lots of campgrounds and RV sites along the way, and never had any issue finding a spot to camp – although maybe our timing had something to do with it, as campgrounds might have been busier earlier in the summer.

After this lovely sunny break, we got back on the road and headed west on Highway 37A, towards Stewart. On the way we stopped to admire the imposing Bear Glacier, which is visible right off the side of the road.  

The town used to have a population of about 10.000 at the start of the 20th Century, thanks to gold and silver mining, but it is now down to roughly 500.

It is still a tourist destination, set in quite a scenic spot, on the edge of the Portland Canal and framed by mountains on either side. It is also right on the border with Alaska – although there is only one small hamlet on the other side, Hyder, AK, population 40! We drove to the “border”. There actually isn’t an American custom to get in, but there is a Canadian one to come back. As expected due to Covid, the border had a big sign indicating “locals only”, so it confirmed that we weren’t going to be able to cross into the US on this trip.

When we got to the campsite, we asked the manager about the border and she said that if we crossed, we’d have to isolate for 14 days upon returning – since there was no way of getting a Covid test done on the other side. We asked about the people in Hyder, who have no other road access to the rest of the continent, let alone the US, and she said they were basically stuck there, only allowed to come into Stewart once a week for a few hours, to get groceries.

I had hoped that we could drive all the way to Salmon glacier in Alaska, which can be seen off the side of the road, but that clearly was off the table. We still decided to stay 2 nights in Stewart, to get some time off driving and explore the area near town.

The weekend we arrived happened to be Stewart Community days, so there was a BBQ happening in the town park. We took a stroll down the boardwalk that stretches over the marshy ground of the inlet, right off of Main St, and chatted with a retired couple who had sold their house and were now living in their RV year-round, traveling around Canada and the US.

We also walked down the few blocks on and around Main Street, lined with old-timey shop fronts. The rest of the central area of town looked half abandoned, including the very spooky hotel. We did see a few newly-built houses here and there, but the town definitely had a bit of a ghost town feeling in some areas.
The main campsite was located right on the edge of town, so we were able to walk to and from there easily, a nice break from all the driving.

August 8 – Clements lake

In the morning, we had breakfast at the Rookery, local joint which doubles as a toaster Museum (aka Toastworks) displaying an impressive collection of toasters and other vintage looking artifact.

I was looking for a potential hike to do that day, but there weren’t many listed on BRMP or AllTrails, and most of them seemed to involve some amount of bushwhacking, plus the mountain tops were all covered in clouds, with no sign of clearing. So we opted to drive out to nearby Clements lake instead. It turned out to be a lovely little lake with even a small dingy left on the shore – for anyone to use we assumed.
So we did and paddled around for a bit, then had some lunch.

In all we spent about 3 hours there, then we drove back and stopped at a few scenic spots along the river. Eventually we got back to camp and spent some time relaxing by the fire.

Later on we went into the local grocery shop and were quite surprised to see how well stocked it was, with little quantities of everything – which I guess it would have to be when the nearest store is otherwise several hundred km away…