Bears, bears, and Junk Yard bears...

August 16^th, Saturday

  4:30am! Good morning, still dark while we get up, can you believe just a few weeks and we are now seeing true dark early in the am.  Excited to head to the bear viewing area to see me some bears!! 

  Got there by 6am Canada time, 5am Alaska time.  I’m not sure how this area does the time since Hyder is only 4 miles from Stewart and only Canada has a border entrance here. You can go into the US without stopping but when coming back across to the RV park, you go thru Canadian customs.  They want to know if we are bringing anything into Canada.  I guess bringing a bear back is frowned on??  I am trying to upload a video here of the bears, but not sure it will post? 

  Lots of bears this am, black and grizzly.  This first one came out of a stagnate pond, I was the first to see the water rippling and asked what is that?  She is named "Mary", about 12 years old and was very crabby this am.  Charged at the boardwalk and everyone jumped back quickly.  Headed out by the RVs and then across the road.  A few minutes later, she was down on the river catching her salmon.  I thought it was a black bear, but the rangers say she is a black Grizzly.  She didn't like to fish, she was just walking up and down the river, eating on the dead fish there.  
 Lots of salmon eating, then off for a great drive out to see all the glaciers here. 

Saw a lot of  mountain views and some really fast marmots that ran across the road, so as not to get their pic taken.  A few more glaciers, and actually saw a herd of river otters crossing the road, they looked up, saw us and ran across and hid in the river.  Didn’t see them come back out, but they were so cute.  

Lin is saying we should have a dash cam on the truck and we would have had a lot more pics that we missed!! 

Back for more bears at the river, they had already eaten and we were hungry so went out for seafood ourselves at the local Tavern Inn.  There is a crazy “Hyderizing” here, a drink but we didn’t try that one.  Only dinner and more bears in the junk yard!!  Driving around the junk yard can be dangerous and not just the bears.  We caught us 2 large rocks between the tires and had to take the tire off to get them out.  At least it wasn’t a flat, just a few rocks.  But by the time we got them out, the whole town of Hyder heard about them! Too funny in such a small town.  Mommy Bear teaching her cubs to enjoy the spoils in the junk yard.