Day 6 – Prince George to Hyder, BC
Travel Time: 8:45am – 8:45pm
Low Temp: 9 celcius (Bear Glacier – cool breezes)
High Temp: 24 celcius (Smithers – Lunchtime)
Distance: 703 kilometres
So far on the trip the luck with the weather has held. Getting up and getting ready to go the temperature was 16 celcius and sunny. The weather held all the way through the day and only tapered off a bit when we were near one of the big glaciers and heading down in elevation towards the ocean and Hyder.
Tim Horton’s was the breakfast of choice this morning. A few pastries to get the day started right – the breakfast of champions. We decided that we’d have a real breakfast or lunch along the way instead and try to get moving.
Inside the Tim Horton’s was a 20something with some sort of boom box contraption strapped to his back. He literally was blasting tunes on his back wherever he would go, including right inside the Tim Horton’s. He didn’t even turn it down to order. How strange. Honestly, watching him it was like he couldn’t even hear it. Adults of the future be afraid, be very afraid….
The ride went by without incident. Still experiencing the issues with my bike but no other warning signs – fuel economy has been in the mid 40s to 50s. So I’m stumped. However, the bike is completely gutless for passing – it’s like riding my KLR with 30 horsepower.
We had our lunch stop in Smithers which is on edge of the mountains again and quite scenic. Nothing spectacular for lunch but by Smithers we had accomplished the majority of the day’s ride.
Once again frequent stops added quite a bit of time to the day. While we should have arrived around 4:30 or 5:00pm the breaks were needed along the way. The numbness in my hands is particularly troublesome. It comes and goes but when it sends the sharp pains up to my elbows it’s time to get off the bike, and so we did.
We passed Meziadin Junction and headed west towards Hyder just before the light began to fade out. Hyder is in a fjord so the sun goes down early and it was beginning to get dark on our approach. A quick stop for some photos at the Bear Glacier on the way in (we’ll get more on the way out in better light) and we arrived at Hyder at 8:30.
The Sealaska Inn didn’t seem to have kitchen staff this time. Not sure if they aren’t serving food but we were told that the Glacier Inn serves food until 8:45. Yikes! 8:45. I suggested we just run over in our riding gear. Alas, we did not and missed the boat for dinner. The owner was nice enough to offer the dessert menu, so I had a gigantic piece of carrot cake and a few beer – again, the meal of champions. My partner got a bit snippy with the owner at first but I quietly reminded him that it was the only place open early for breakfast and apparently it’s now the only real restaurant in this little town.
We sidled back over to our hotel and had a few drinks at the bar with the owner and a colourful character that had obviously spent quite a large portion of the day leaning against the bar. With that ended our first day and we would venture up to the Salmon Glacier and go to the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing area tomorrow.
It’s beautifully quiet at night here. Being that it is a ghost town there is no road traffic or noise at all. It’s quite refreshing!
