SMITHERS
After a full day of driving along the Yellowhead Highway, we reached Smithers as it started to get dark. We had planned on a quick overnight stay in town before moving on to the Cassiar Highway, but quickly realized the next morning how beautiful our surroundings were, and decided to stick around for a couple days to explore.
That morning, we drove to Hudson Bay mountain to check out the Crater Lake hike recommended to us by a few locals. We found ourselves to be the only people parked at the trailhead, and didn’t see anyone else until we got back to town. The changing weather provided a surreal atmosphere as we made our way to the frozen lake. We had read it’s a great summer hike with a chance to swim, but our expectations of summer still needed to be pushed back some at this point.
On the way back to camp, we stopped for a short, popular hike to Twin Falls, which crash into a valley with snow capped mountains towering overhead.
STEWART / HYDER
Along the Cassiar Highway, we stopped to camp at Meziadin Lake, before taking a detour and driving west to see Bear Glacier, the towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska, and Salmon Glacier.
We encountered an unfortunate need for roof repairs just as the mosquitoes began to swarm.
The drive to Stewart and Hyder was beautiful, and we didn’t know the best was yet to come.
We drove a dirt road that wound from the toe to the summit of the Salmon Glacier. This drive offered surreal views of a landscape carved by ice.
CASSIAR HIGHWAY INTO THE YUKON
We re-traced our route east a few hours to continue our journey north on the Cassiar Highway. While we didn’t stop much along the way, the views were incredible, as the road became increasingly remote. We stopped to camp and kayak on Dease Lake before crossing into the Yukon, where we were treated to amazing views of the Yukon river.
