Monday August 23, Hyder, AK

A very wet day in Hyder…..woke to rain and it hasn’t stopped all day. Evidently it is very much needed, they have had a very dry period and were concerned about fire risks, so guess it is good for the locals.

We have just pottered around Stewart and Hyder, two really interesting little communities. We were stopped by Canadian Customs this morning at the border, showed our passports and asked how long we were staying in Canada….our reply we are just going into Stewart and will be returning into Hyder later. Find it so strange for the need to have this crossing as nine miles further up the only road out of Hyder it crosses back into Canada again.

We spent quite some time chatting with Wes who owns the Hyder General Store, a real character. We asked him what the population was and he said that there were 71 then Mary had a baby and George came back, so now there are 73!!The residents are fiercely American, and all their supplies are flown in from Ketchikan, an Alaskan Island further north. They have quite a bear population in the area as well as wolves and told us about a chef at the local hotel who was eaten alive by a grizzly about 10 years ago…it is all quite sobering. He always carries a gun with him. Don’t think I will bother going out for a walk this afternoon!

The small port at the end of a natural canal ships out logs and today they were loading metal into barges, probably for a small community further up the Inside Passage.

An intriguing place. Still no bears at the creek either, and evidently what I thought was a Golden Eagle yesterday, was a young bald eagle!

Surprise surprise, David and Betsy (the refugees) spotted us this evening, and called in for a drink…they are staying at another camp, so good to see them again.