This was the longest journey of all my voyages while in BC, but well worth it. On this day I saw several bears, visited Bear Lake Glacier, the friendly small town of Stewart BC, then accross the border to the tiny and odd ghost town of Hyder, Alaska where I joined the list of many world travellers to this town that experienced getting "Hyderized".....a day to remember.





This photo speaks for itself as I put my co-pilot skills to work. About halfway there, we reached the turnpike north to Bear Lake, Stewart BC, and Hyder Alaska.

north to alaska




This was a good shot, if only I had a better camera to zoom up. A big black bear and her two cubs at the side of the road saw our car coming and ran off. As we got closer Graeme stopped and I snapped a photo just as the Momma bear turned around, stood on its hind legs, and roared at us in an effort to fend off any threats to her young cubs. We didnt stick around to see what she was going to do next

 momma bear




Graeme and I at the spectacular site of "Bear Lake Glacier". A huge mass of glacier rock that runs between three colossal mountains and is over 60ft thick where it meets Bear Lake at the bottom

glacier






glacier




We ventured down to the rapids of the small river that flowed from Bear Lake to get a closer look at the Glacier, only problem was we had to climb back up!

rock climbing

cut hand at glacier






Me grabbing a piece of ice that separated from the glacier and floated accross the lake

holding glacier chunk






Stewart BC was such a cool town. The restaurant we ate at rented us touring bicycles free of charge to tour the town while we waited for them to open for dinner

Stewart bikin

Stewart bikin

Stewart bikin




A well worked up apetite at the outdoor Patio restaurant we ate at in Stewart, BC.

outdoor patio in Stewart

patio




Entering Hyder Alaska

entering hyder





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I think this was Hyder's only confectionary shop in this small ghost town with a population of less then 60

Stewart bikin




Just before entering the Glacier Inn to get hyderized, which in laymens terms means downing a shot of pure everclear Hyder moonshine. I was as ready as I was gonna be

 hyder bar




A few moments after downing my "190 proof" shot of Hyder moonshine....feeling no pain. The bartender said one shot was equal to 5 beers, he also said if it came back up as fast as it went down, I would be obligated to buy a round of drinks for everyone in the bar

post hyderization



Doing the pose with the Hyder Toad

hyderization






Captain Terrys



Graeme and I phoned mom and dad back in Ontario from the 1st Hyder Bar we went to. Here you can see the wall plastered with bills. It is customary for visitors of Hyder who gets "hyderized" to leave their mark by signing a bill of whatever currency and stapling it to the wall. There is literally thousands of these, some we saw were dated as far back as the 1950's.



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Here we are in the 2nd bar where I got hyderized yet again not more then 30 minutes later. This local girl walked in with quite the colorful bird on her shoulder so I just had to ask for a picture

hyder bird girl




After 2 shots of Everclear Hyder Moonshine, I think this bear was starting to freak me out so I figured I should at LEAST offer him a drink

 drinking w/ bear




The drive home back..........
One thing the moonshine DID do was put me in the drinking mood. When going back through Stewart BC, we picked up a case of 12 off-sale beers at the local hotel. As the driver, Graeme didnt consume any alcohol and I think I drank 11 of them myself during the 2-3 hour drive home. This was about after 6 of them


going home from Hyder