Updates for Aug 21st, and 22nd

Aug 21st,

We got up about 5:45 AM and headed back up to Fish Creek to see if we could catch any bears feeding. On the way we saw a small black bear ambling along the road. I was not prepared to take a picture.

Once at Fish Creek we were in luck, as soon one grizzly sow showed up to make her way down the stream eating some fish as she went. It didn’t seem to make any difference as to alive or dead (3 or 4 dead and 1 or 2 alive). She would sniff and drop it if she didn’t find it appealing! One fish she skinned with her paws and ate only the skin and head. Another she ate just about the whole fish. Apparently the skin, eggs and brains are the fattest part of the fish and this time of year that is what they like to eat the most. It took her about an hour from when she first showed up about 50 yards downstream from the viewing area until she had ambled up the stream by the full length of the viewing area and under the bridge of the main road by the viewing area. Only a couple of times did she even look up even though there were probably 50-70 people on the boardwalk and sometimes she was only about 30 feet from us. We were close enough Dawne could hear her crunch the fish bones when she ate. It was a large female that the rangers knew because of the two tags in her ears. Another black bear and cub were sighted in the parking lot but never showed up at the stream where the boardwalk was.

About 8:30 we ate breakfast and decided to hit the road. Later we saw another older cub just in the ditch chewing on flowers. He went up and down the ditch so got some pictures of him.

The rest of the day’s drive was mostly scenery, including the pretty drive back out of Stewart/Hyder (only one way in and the same way out). Aunt Dorothy would have said “trees, trees, trees, can’t see anything for the trees”. We did see evidence of logging, but no trucks of logs. Signs indicated a lot of the area had been logged in the 80’s. We also saw one helicopter using some type of pincer on a long cable to pick up logs and move them. We think they were clearing a way for new electrical lines, as there was machinery and a cleared strip that was visible from the road for several miles.

We stopped at a totem pole museum that happened to be closed. We wondered over the grounds looking at several totem poles that are just going to ruin as no one seems to take care of them.

At Moricetown Caynon and Falls on the Bulkley river there was a place where they catch fish and record information about them. They use this to better track how many there are and when they return. There were 8 people working at it while we were there. It looked pretty dangerous as two stand on the rocks beside the falls and dip nets with long handles into the rushing water. Others moved the fish around and did the recording. The ones closest to the water falls did either have a life jacket on or a rope tied to them, but not both. Lots of times the netters would get noting, but sometimes they would get 4 or 5 fish and some appeared good sized. As the fish were flopping around, it looked like it would be easy to lose your balance. Some fish they threw back in, others they dumped into a carrier and another guy ran (yes literally ran) the fish up to a tub of water. From there they went to a second tub of water and this is where they recorded the information. We could not tell if they were just looking for and reading tags or doing more, but it appeared they might be doing more. Then they tossed the fish into the river above the falls. At least the fish did not have to swim up the falls if they got caught. While the salmon only return and spawn once, the steelhead can return and spawn multiple times, even though the majorities only make it once. On the steelhead they can read the rings on the scales to tell how many times and for how long each time the fish has been in fresh or salt water and from that they can tell how many times it spawned. Four times seemed to be the max. They did not seem to be looking close enough to read scales or to be taking sample of scales while we watched.

We camped for the night at Glacierview RV campground just outside of Smithers, BC. Nice and clean and fairly good internet.

Aug 22nd.

We stayed at the campground until 10 AM because the internet was so good and Dale was trying to catch up on his maps and routes.

Everyone wants to have the biggest something. That day we stopped and took a picture of the biggest rod and reel. It was taller than the electrical lines. We didn’t stop at the largest gold pan. They also had a large mounted grizzly bear that had been shot in the area because it was eating cattle.

Most of today was spent rolling along Hwy 16 on into Prince George. The road was good and wound though several valleys where there were several horses, cattle and hay fields. One deer was our wildlife for the day. We had light rain on and off for much of the day and it rained at camp that night.

Lots of logging and sawmills thru this area also. For all the mills there were we did not see that many logging trucks. There is a region of about 4,000 square miles, mostly southwest of here, that has a bad beetle infestation killing the trees in a big way. Right now they are trying to use the dead trees for lumber as quick as they can, because it does not stay good. I don’t know how long they have or what all the lumber mills will do after that. It might be a good time to invest in lumber and lumber companies that are not as affected by the beetles.

I hadn’t slept well the night before, so I kept dozing off in my seat. Finally we stopped and we both took a nap and I felt better later on. We are in the Prince George Wal Mart parking lot tonight with about 10 other campers. Tomorrow we will be on Hwy 97 going down towards eastern Washington. Probably be back in good old USA in 2 days.