Meziadin

Meziadin Lake

From Jade lakes our next short stop was Boya Lake south on the Stewart Cassiar. 

This government campsite may be the most beautiful British Columbia. The lake is crystal clear shades of green and blue.

Amazingly, the campsite is spotlessly clean. There is a beautiful log picnic gazebo area and if you can believe it, free canoes and kayaks along with paddles and lifejackets that you can take out on the lake. A well designed boat launch tops off this gem. Our camping in British Columbia we have never seen such a sweet little campsite and lake combination. 

Next stop in the southerly direction was Kinaskan lake provincial campsite. Once again here is a hidden gem within our province that very few people will actually get to enjoy. Beautiful lake with many campsites facing right on the lakefront.

Along this route another strange site presented itself. For many miles we followed a brand new and very large hydro line with countless brand new towers. What its purpose was is yet unclear, but it is certainly a large BC Hydro initiative. 

 After a long day of driving on the Stewart-Cassiar we finally make it to the provincial campsite at Mezziadin lake. To our surprise we found a lakefront campsite on the extremely calm lake with electricity. We have never stayed at  provincial government campsite before with an electrical hookups. We booked in for 3 days. 

On the second day we decided to head in to Stewart. This is a very old town that has its history back in the gold rush era of British Columbia. On our way and we passed the Bear glacier. We saw the tongue of a glacier that extends back about 21 km. Stewart is another example of a town where time has passed it by. Some mining is active with a new mine starting up soon and logging is also a small part of the economy. In a short minute we were through Stewart we entered Hyder Alaska. It was very odd because there is no US border check when you go from British Columbia to Alaska. In a a matter of minutes you pass out of Alaska again and back into British Columbia. Very strange.

30 km later we arrive at the Salmon glacier.  This is very amazing glacier. It looks much like a river of ice flowing down from an enormous glacier field. It has mountains of ice with it, crevasses, and even some small turquoise ponds of glacier water. It is definitely a once in a lifetime viewing spectacle for most people. The gravel road on the mountain side high above the glacier on our way to the viewing platform also offered many exciting and somewhat anxious moments as we seemed to be suspended a thousand feet, directly above the vast river of ice. 

On a return trip to Hyder, we dropped in at a famous pub there and got our initiation rites of being hyderized. This requires that you take a shot of 190 proof Alaskan White lightening and take it down in one shot. The dregs from the shooter glass are then ignited into an almost clear blue flame to prove the strength of the drink. Definitely an experience, but not on the same level as the Sourtoe Cocktale in Dawson! 

Strangely enough it was a border crossing between Hyder and British Colombia. It seemed odd that it was not crossing when we entered into America, but we had a border crossing when we entered back into Canada.

Stuart you still at the Seaport. So we decided to drive into the port area and see if there was any activity there. To our surprise, there was a row after row of pipe that was about 10 feet in diameter. Next thing we saw was at least 70 enormous propeller blades.  Each of These blades measure approximately 200 feet in length. These blades were so enormous that they required a special truck to transport them to Chetwind. The back of the trailer that carried these blades ad a special stearable dolly to get them around the bends in the many curved roads on their way to Chetwyn. Here they would be pieced together to make an enormous wind generator for electricity. Another enormous BC Hydro initiative that few of us even know about!

Once back at the campsite, it was a futile fishing expedition then bedtime. One more day was spent at this beautiful spot to just lay back. 

However, finally we have encountered the legendary BC interior mosquitoe invasion. Thousands of them everywhere. Not since Fairbanks had we seen many mossies 

 This made up for it. Unlike the enormous, harmless "B 52 bomber" bugs in Fairbanks, theses were The "F-18 fighters" of the spicies. Spray "Off" was definitely the order of the day and it was only moderately effective  

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