Hyder to Prince Rupert and the ferry, June 20-21, 2011

I can't believe the last time I wrote here was June 19th. We were in Hyder, AK, looking for bears. We did find them...a mama grizzly with one 2-year old baby. We were able to watch them feed on grass and look longingly into Fish Creek for salmon. We also saw a black bear in our campground raiding someone's trash. It was fun watching until someone came and shooshed him (or her) away.
We also took an exciting drive up to Salmon Glacier...the road was gravel and full of holes. Some of the places were very narrow and steep. Finally made it to the top and met The Bear Man. This man has been camping at the Glacier for the last 30 summers. He has written books and has a photo album with lots of pics of the glacier and wildlife he's seen. Very interesting to talk to. We were the only people up there so we had a nice conversation and I took his pic with Jim. Jim also bought one of his books on bears.
After Hyder we went back through Stewart and the same road we came on and across the wooden bridge spanning Nass River. Saw some bears and deer and a family of grouse...the mom must have had 15 tiny chicks with her. Traffic was stopped in both directions to let them get off the road.
We made it to Prince Rupert on June 21 and camped at the Prince Rupert RV campground near the ferry terminal. We will get on the ferry, our first, on June 23rd. We have to check in at 3:30 AM for our 6:30 AM departure for Ketchikan.
All the scenery to Prince Rupert was beautiful. Followed alongside the Skeena River, a very fast river cutting through the valley. It was all so beautiful to see.
We got to Prince Rupert and looked around the town. We went to the ferry terminal to make sure of what we needed to do the next EARLY morning.
Did manage to get some sleep that night. Jim slept on the couch to make sure he heard anyone else leaving. There was only one road out of the campground and we were sure many of the people there were going to catch the same ferry as us. We left around 2:30 am and got to the ferry just fine. The crews were already beginning to wake people sleeping in the approach. We were shown through to the terminal, checked in and got in line. Next thing we were boarding. We were loaded with no problems...and all that worry for nothing.