After collecting the other images from this trip into subject-themed albums, I am left with a bunch of "interesting" images that really don't fit in to any of those albums, so I just collected them here under the general theme of "Miscellaneous"

3392 The jumping-off point for this trip is the town of Smithers in central British Columbia. You can take a plane here (from Vancouver) but then you have to rent a car to continue the journey for another day's drivig. This is the main shopping street in Smithers, about 3 blocks long. In addition to this statue of a Flugelhorn player (part of the Swiss Alpine theme of the town) a traffic light marks the spot where The High Street crosses the main trans-Canada highway.

3404 On the way to Hyder we pass through a small Indian Reservation renowned for its totem poles. It also sports a small church - where fire logs have been stacked in the porch ready to keep the congregation warm during a winter's service.

3417 Some 30 miles before reaching Stewart, we pass this glacier emptying into a lake by the side of the road.

3508 The ghost town of Hyder boasts half-a-dozen stores who cater to the local population during tourist season - including a "General" store - this is a portrait of the proprietor. It takes a certain atypical personality to actualy live in a place like Hyder - this face is maybe typical of the atypical.

3509 Reflections across the fjord. (Is this picture upside-down? No - you can tell by the old rotted wood pilings sticking up out of the water) The ravine just left of center is the route used in our helicopter ride up to the ice-field - which is documented elsewhere.

3652 Even a small ghost town needs a Post Office - particularly if it is a border post providing the only road access into this part of Alaska The Post Office itself is a wooden hut sheltered underneath a separate stronger roof to protect it from the 20 or 30 feet of snow that may accumulate here in winter.

3654 Hyder itself sits on some flat land which has been deposited over the eons on the shore of the fjord by the various glacial streams dropping their silt. At the end of a wooden causeway, there is a small dock where fisher's boats can tie up. Also attached to the floating booms that make up the harbor is a platform on thre right. This platform is for sea-planes to tie up to while visiting Hyder, marked by a wind-sock at the top of the pole.

3661 This picture is taken from that platform, looking in the opposite direction. Every Monday around noon, the post arrives by air from Ketchikan. The pilot hands over the incoming mail to the local postal agent for delivery to the post office, and at the same time the pilot picks up any out-going mail. If there is room in the aircraft, you can book a seat to go to (or return from) Ketchikan, but it is recommended that you travel with minimal baggage if you want to do so. Both the air-frame and the engine of this aircraft date from the 1950's - over half a century old, and still in daily use.

3655 This picture is looking from approximately the same spot towards Hyder itself. Because the harbor/airport needs to be beyond the tidal mudflats, the road from Hyder is built on a wooden causeway over a trestle that traverses the mudflats

3668 Driving over the causeway back towards Hyder. We hope we don't meet oncoming traffic.

3673 Road near Hyder.

3687 St. Paul's Orthodox Church in downtown Hyder.

3692 Main Street, Hyder. On the right is a defunct gas station that has not been in use since before our first visit well over a decade ago.

4127 Stewart is over the border in Canada and has a thriving population of just under 500 at last count. It was founded in 1905 when a Post Office was established there and the postmaster named the settlement. Ahead on the right side of the road we see the Fire House with the red roof, and beyond it the church. The town has both a hardware store and a small hospital where a doctor visits. He comes from Smithers - about a 5 hour drive.

4137 This picture is taken in Canada looking down the fjord towards the ocean some 100's of miles away. Hyder is on the right about 5 miles away where you can see the mudflats jutting out into the fjord.

4199 Both this and the previous picture were taken from a helicopter. I include this one just because of its fantastic play of colors - white, blue, green, red...

4280 I always associate Spanish Moss hanging from trees with hot moist climates. But it seems to thrive here as well. (On the road from Stewart towards the border with Alaska and Hyder - in the next picture.)

4282 A few miles later the well-maintained black-top road ends abruptly and deteriorates into a simple dirt road at the American border and the entrance into Hyder. The weather seen here is more typical of this area in the fall. Low clouds cover the mountain tops with an occasional hole through which sunlight peeks. Average annual rainfall (or snowfall) here is about 72 inches (182 cm) of precipitation.

4291 The edge of the river where all the tributaries have collected and now it widens out and slows down in the flatlands about a mile before it empties into the fjord.

4292 There are some roads where you are discouraged from driving further into the wilderness. You're welcome to walk or bicycle of course - just be on the look-out for bears... (That's the trusty little Toyota Matrix we rented in Smithers)

4293 Another view of the river in its final mile or so as it widens and slows down. The sun is breaking through the low clouds to paint the mountainsides in all shades of green. The water is a pale milky-blue showing its glacial origins.

6646 Man passes on but leaves his mark. Out in the wilderness, many years ago (but some time after 1900) some pioneer built a cabin with a fireplace here and probably tried to create a living. The only trace that is left of that endeavor - the fireplace.

6673 Man passes on but leaves his mark. Some structures still survive - here is an abandoned log cabin. Another spot where some pioneer tried to make a go of it, but in the end passed on.

6654 Man passes on but leaves his mark. Somewhere near each settlement will be a cemetery - a more deliberate witness to pioneers and early settlers.

6671 If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I would think it was exagerated. There are different kinds of Salmon and each creek may host one or a few of these different types. The varieties of salmon come in a multitude of sizes, shapes, and colors - depending on season. These are Sockeye salmon, seen from a bridge along the road that crossed a small creek.

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Bears in Creek

Lagoon Life

Helicopter

Native Fishing

Other Pics.