BC RVing: Highways 16, 37, and 37A to Stewart
Tuesday, October 6th, day 28 of the trip, was going to be a fairly long day, 552 km from just west of Fort Fraser to Stewart. It got even longer and much less fun when we were attacked in the early afternoon, resulting in several thousand dollars in damage to the RV.
We spent the night at the Dry Williams Lake Rest Area, west of Fort Fraser at Km 577. We arrived after dark so didn’t see just how nice a site (and lake) it is.
We were on the road just after 08:30, and at 10:20 had reached one of the best views on the section of Highway 16, at Six Mile Summit.
At 11:15, the Bulkley View Rest Area east of Smithers at Km 371 provided a great place for the dogs and I to stretch our legs.
I thought about stopping at Smithers to wash the rig, but decided that was a waste of time and money, then stopped briefly at Morice Canyon, but nothing enticed me to look around again.
For anyone going up the Stewart-Cassiar (Highway 37), the Petro-Canada at the junction with Highway 16 is a must-stop, as gas prices get much higher to the north – at $1.229, they’re high but not unreasonably so.
A couple of k up the Stewart-Cassiar, at the north end of the little Native village of Kitwanga, things got ugly. The short version of the story is that I was driving up the highway when a guy walking along the shoulder suddenly fired a handful of rocks at us, breaking both windshields. By the time I shook off the shock and got the motorhome over to the shoulder, I was far past him, with no way to get back to him (the rig is too long to do U-turns). I called 9-1-1, and about an hour later two RCMP cruisers showed up and took the report. The motorhome was still driveable, but the damage will cost over $4,000 to repair, and with winter now here, can’t be done until warm weather returns next Spring.
With that lengthy delay, it was almost 5:00 when I reached Bear Pass, the most impressive part of the Highway 37A sideroad into Stewart.
Bear Glacier. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen the glacier with no snow on it, but its retreat since my 2002 photo is quite shocking.
By 6:00 I was settled at the Bear River RV Park at the north edge of Stewart, about 3 blocks from my house when I lived there in 1975. The only thing I really needed/wanted beyond a spot to park was wifi, and it was very poor.
The plan for Tuesday morning was to take the Tracker up to see the incredible Salmon Glacier, then continue the drive home, still 2 days away.
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