Wildlife and a Roadtrip

After an exciting few days exploring Northern BC, we supported the Stewart Bear Festival market and pancake breakfast in memorial park (fantastic silent auction prizes which we would have liked to stick around longer for) and headed back to the Fire Hall Museum to complete our tour and to hear a presentation by Angelika Langen who is the director of the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers.  She is coordinating a programme of orphaned bear rehabilitation and release throughout BC; she is exceptionally articulate and knowledgeable about both Black and Grizzly bear rehabilitation, having worked with them for the last twenty years. She gives lectures and presentations throughout the world and it was fascinating to spend a couple of hours with her. Once again, aside from John-Louis Imbs and his wife who we had met on our previous visit to the museum, we were the only ones who attended her talk and it left us questioning how far the local population are interested in supporting such initiatives.

We left Stewart and headed east on the 37A to Meziadin before rejoining the Stewart-Cassiar highway south and were once again rewarded with some fantastic sightings of two young black bears one who was munching sedge and clover by the roadside and one who seemed oblivious to us and just strolled along the verge to entertain us. We named them Meziadin and Cranberry in reference to the nearest locations where we spotted them. It was sad to see a larger black bear by the side of the road who had obviously been knocked down by a passing vehicle but we informed the local CO (Wildlife Conservation Officer – the wildlife police in Canada) when he stopped us to ask if anyone had given us antlers or skulls to bring back from Hyder!!! Those Alaskans seem to have some unusual habits!

Cranberry - a Black Bear who strolled by the verge and let me take his photo!

Shortly before we left the highway, a coyote passed in front of us – similar in size and colouring to the wolves but about the size of a small dog, so, all in all, a wildlife-filled day!

We arrived in Hazelton to our motel with a great kitchenette so the local supermarket provided steak strips and vegetables for a tasty stir-fry and an early night. Mark sure has driven some miles in the last few days – just over 500!

On Sunday morning, we headed east to Twin Falls – a spectacular pair of waterfalls near Smithers and we purchased supplies for the train journey before returning the hire car and going to the railway station. We had heard that the trains are frequently late as freight always gets priority and many sections of the line are single track so, by the time it arrived to collect us, it was already two hours late. Diane and Marilyn were as cheerful as ever and had saved us some seats and phoned ahead for taxis at the Prince George end which soon became delayed by another hour.

In the early hours of Monday, we arrived in Prince George just in time to sample the Casino with our free $5 vouchers (we won $7!) and then got up a few hours later for the flight to Vancouver and the end of our fantastic tour of Northern BC. We now have a few days with Marian and Margaret before flying home on Saturday.

Bear Glacier, Stewart

Coyote on Highway 37

Rush hour on Highway 37