This mornings search for another light show was a bust. We set off about midnight for a clearing ten minutes out of town. It wasn't too cloudy but by 1.30am having seen nothing we were knackered and gave it away for the night :-(

On now to today and here we go again, another glorious BC day :-) Sunshine, comparatively warm (12C) and km after km of picturesque lakes, rivers and mossy forests.

The drive today began with spotting some small creatures. Walking beside a lake Pete spotted a small shrew. It was scurrying about in and out of the water snacking on insects and nibbling on some vegetation. Now and then it would disappear under the bank and we'd hear squeaking so assume there were babies :-) Very cute.

Back on the road I spotted something smallish in the grass at the verge. We reversed up not really expecting it to still be there but it was, a prairie dog and still just as I'd seen it, standing to attention resembling a Meerkat. Cute critter no. two for the day :-)

To complete the trio of cute little critters we ruined the hopes of a family of grouse, mum, dad and chicks who were trying to cross the road but wisely changed their minds when we came along.

Of course there were a number of squirrels taking their lives in hand to run across the road along the way too.

We passed a work camp for those working on a power project and going by the large number of very new looking power pylons up around the area it's a big job bringing power to the area. They had a lot of big equipment like choppers, cherry pickers and cranes helping but a lot was still done by men climbing the pylons. Most of the pylons are unusual, they go to a sort of point vs the usual four foot style. About every third or fourth is the more usual pylon interspersed by the smaller pointed ones which are supported by cables. Every few k's we passes a first aid van presumably on hand if anything goes wrong.

At a small one way system to ensure the safety of road workers we found a four man film crew at work, not too sure what the were filming.

Not far past the grouse family we found a lone black bear. Just by the side of the road happily bulking up on his greens. Of course we had to get some more bear pics so stopped but opted to stay in the car this time. I got to within two meters of it to take those I got! The lone not so little but very cute critter for the day :-)

We turned off the main road and went towards Stewart. The road winds through the coastal ranges and there's multiple glaciers on both sides of the road, some small but others very big. Some hung right to the edge of the cliff then flowed as waterfalls down to the lake or river below, just awesome. Some were rock solid all the way to the pale milky water into which it flowed.

In Stewart we made our way to Ripley Creek Inn. It was recommended by the French couple who run last nights hotel. It's an amalgamation of two main buildings and various small historical buildings from around the area, the old brothel is but one. They had three rooms left and when we couldn't choose he gave us keys to all and we set off to check them out. First up the old brothel, now two rooms one up, one down and a communal kitchen and sitting room on the ground floor. The kitchen was old style but had everything you'd need if you were going to fend entirely for yourself. The upstairs room was very cute complete with a Wild West style claw foot bath in the bathroom. I think Pete being so much taller than me found the low ceiling a little too close for comfort as much as it'd be fun to say we slept in a brothel we vetoed that one. The second is the only king size room on the property and was more roomy with a great outlook to the creek behind. The third was across the creek, it looked like they'd closed in a walkway and despite having everything we'd need it too was a bit small. Heading back to the office feeling a bit like goldilocks we decreed the king to be perfect and checked in. We tried to check in for two nights but much to our and their surprise they are fully booked for tomorrow night so one night it is.

Without even unloading the car we set off to cross over to Hyder Alaska a couple of miles away. The only border control is on the way back into Canada so we just drove on into the USA. Hyder is a bit of a ghost town, the odd rough and ready accommodation or outfitter and run down homes and some empty buildings; remnants from a time when there were mines all over the area.

Just past Hyder is the walkway from which you can watch bears feeding in the river below but the salmon season is pretty much over and as the ranger told us the bears are too fat to be bothered with the few fish that are left lol. We walked the boardwalk anyway just in case :-). There were still a few fish swimming slowly looking like they'd spawned and in reality were just biding time til they died. Both banks and the river were littered with the bodies of those who'd gone before them. From there the road is narrow, rough and unsealed. In some places it goes from being a one and a half car width to barely one because of slips. For 37km we wound our way up past old abandoned mines, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and an array of glaciers. The biggest and most impressive glacier is Salmon Glacier. With the sun low in the sky it was beautiful. It would've been fabulous to see the sun go down there but it was still an hour away and I was nervous enough coming up in daylight let alone doing it in the dark. Pete of course would've been fine, I'm the nervous nelly of the two of us lol. So back down we went.

The Ripley Creek Inn is lovely, chooks and attack geese guard the place. There's all sorts of old stuff from toasters and washing machines to farm implements and vehicles around the common areas. Our little balcony looks out over the creek and deck and beyond to the main goose grazing area. We were visited briefly by a pretty bluejay who flitted about while we were In the driveway at one point but didn't stay long enough to get a photo of it. The only real draw back to it is the lack of internet delaying the posting of this and photos. If not for that I could see us happily kicking back and doing very little here for a few days.