World Canada British Columbia Port Edward

McNeur's Canada & Alaska Adventure

Port Edward 17 Aug 2010

Tuesday 17 August 2010 We had decided to visit the Bear Observation site again before we left Stewart so managed to get there about 8.30am. We had set ourselves a time limit of 10.00am to leave regardless of whether we had seen any bears or not. It was a fresh morning and the sun had not hit the boardwalk yet; despite this there were lots of people there waiting to see the bears. Apparently yesterday morning had been so good for viewing, the word had got out so there were more early morning visitors than usual. Some were at the end of the boardwalk watching an immature bald eagle. About 9.50am the sow and cub put in another appearance so we stayed and watched and took more videos. About 10.30am they went under the bridge so we decided it was time to leave. Once again through Canadian passport control; bit of a joke really as all they do is look at our passports, ask us whether we are bringing anything in from the US and ask when we are leaving Canada; they have done this to us four times in three days - I guess it gives some people employment. We tell them that were only taking memories & photographs back into Canada. Once we were back in the sunshine the temperature rose and it was another cloudless day; just as well for air conditioning in vehicles. We made good time back to the Highway 37 junction with only one stop to look for mountain goats (Dave did see quite a few up on the hill) and one more stop when we saw a black bear on the side of the road eating clover. We stopped and took some photos and also a video. At one point three motorcyclists went past and it disappeared off the road and then came back and we got some good shots of it and then we got beeped by a truck that was coming up behind us and was not happy that we had stopped on the road - no room to get off the road really and he couldn't pass us as there were oncoming vehicles. So of course the bear disappeared again and we had to get going. We were headed south towards Prince Rupert; stopping for lunch at Kitwanga. We had thought of spending the night there but were glad we changed our mind as there is really nothing there; it is by the junction where you turn right for Prince Rupert or left for Prince George. Heading west now we observed a ferry crossing the river at Usk so went down a side road to see it in action. It wasn't powered by motor but travelled across the river using the current and a guide wire. It was extremely hot standing there and we both had to seek shade. It was very interesting to observe two gentlemen on bikes watching the ferry and when Jenny spoke to them they said that they were just keeping an eye on the community; perhaps we looked a bit dodgy. Just out of Terrace we crossed over a river and there were loads of boat trailers parked up; further on down the road we saw lots of fishermen along the bank of the Skeena River; no doubt trying to catch salmon coming up the river to spawn. We heard on the radio this afternoon that there are 277 fires in British Columbia and 13 new fires started yesterday, covering 1,660 square kilometres - that is a lot of fires. Before we left NZ we had made bookings at a camp ground at Port Edward for the night of the 18th before we caught the ferry, but we now realised that this was quite a way out of Prince Rupert for our early morning start on the 19th so we are staying in Port Edward tonight and will try and get space in the campground in Prince Rupert tomorrow night. We have heard about a cannery in Port Edward that does tours so may investigate that in the morning before heading down the road to Prince Rupert. Stewart to Port Edward - 458 Km

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