Day 5: 9/20/2010
Dease Lake to Seeley Lake Campground, 413.4 Miles
http://goo.gl/maps/c8vT

We headed south from Dease Lake after snagging breakfast sammiches from a small grocery story, and Bonnie made the second attempt at getting conditioner... the first time I may have accidentally gotten more shampoo instead. My hair without conditioner went insanely static, so it's a good investment, test concluded!

We took a detour off the Cassiar on the suggestion of a friend and went to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK. Amazing! We saw this incredible glacier just across a lake (Bear Glacier), adorable little buildings in Stewart and a snazzy "Welcome to Stewart" sign, a great dock/pier in Hyder... which is literally right next to Stewart! Hyder has a lovely sense of humor with "Hyder Seek" on several signs and postcards, yay! We also went out Salmon Glacier Road far enough to visit a bear viewing area. It's this great setup right next to a salmon stream with boardwalks set up for viewing. No bears, though apparently there were some that morning, but an immature bald eagle was posing for photos! On the way out, we saw the first of two black bears on the side of the road "grazing." That's the term used by the Milepost for a different location :p Also on the way back to the Cassiar I got views of the waterfalls Mathew saw on the way in, they're amazing! You see them flowing all the way from cirque glaciers down through various crevices and valleys. Gorgeous!

Then back down the Cassiar, with a stop for photos at the Bonnie Irving River! Some may call it the Bell-Irving River, but just wait, I'll have photos soon to prove otherwise. I was so psyched about this stop I woke up asking about the Bonnie Irving River... for a few seconds I actually thought it was named that!


Some of the other highlights for the day were the Arctic Palm Tree (a spruce shaped just like a palm tree with a little sign on it :p), the Seven Sisters Mountians, gorgeous! They made me think of all the people I can call sisters :-) Mainly Brita of course, and Willa! Another was the Nass River Bridge, which was one of the many moments appropriate for my excited "Ohohohoh!!" Which translates roughly to "I see the picture and can't get it because we're too fast or this guard rail is in the way!" Usually this is followed by "Oh, well, a picture for next time" "Guess that was just a mind photograph!" Or puppy dog eyes at Mathew. I've noticed the puppy dog eyes are least successful in getting him to stop and go back... lol. But this time he was awesome enough to go back over the one lane bridge, and stop at the other end to let me out. I got some photos and then dashed back to the car just in time for a semi to cross the bridge ;p

Anf finally... the first night of camping!! We made it to the end of the Cassiar Highway (stopping briefly for some photos of the "finest totem poles in the Province," and then camped at Seeley Lake a few miles down the Yellowhead Highway. With the tent set up we played a quiet game of Phase Ten with hot chocolate (I did my best to have a silent giggle attack). Bonnie got to Phase 7 and Mathew to Phase 6... Can he pull it back in the next game? Till next time!