Day 8 was Great! I saw Moose!

Well, it's far easier to do things this way, and I need more sleep at night, so I'll worry about editing this later. In the meantime, you'll have to piece together the order of things on your own.

You do realize you can click on the photos and make them bigger, right?

This is Caroline from Hyder. She put up a sign on her store (It's one of the very first buildings you see in Hyder and I probably got it on my pic of the Welcome to Alaska sign and didn't know it.) Anyway, Caroline was just so gracious and nice. She is a breast cancer survivor and has many family and friends who are either battling or have survived breast cancer, so she is empathetic to any cause that helps save lives. She was quite funny and sincere. I wish I had more time to get to know her!

This is where Hyderizing began, at the Glacier Inn. To be fair to my host hotel, the Sealaska, at least The Sealaska was open and ready to Hyderize me. the Glacier Inn was already closed. What bar closes on a Friday night at 10pm? Oh yeah, this is Hyder. What's the point of staying open if you don't have any customers? I understand it. But by the time I was ready to get Hyderized (I figured I'd do it twice, and get official at both places).

In any case, both these places have a ton of character. The Glacier is a little more kitschy, but the Sealaska had a more interesting building (great ceiling beams too!)

This is the sign Caroline hung up for me. I'll edit this later and tell you the name of her store (it's packed and I'm not in my room. I love wi-fi!) I won't tell you where I'm posting this, but let's just say I'm enjoying a beverage in the hotel! Any way, back to Caroline...

This is her store. It wasn't open as I left (I just left her having breakfast in the Glacier so I'm not blaming!)

This is the Glacier. Cheeto was the first bike there, and the one from furthest away (at that moment in time).

From a rest area on BC-37 showing where I was. Gives you a better perspective of just how far I was going.

Nice view off of either BC-37 or BC-16. Great view.

Just loved how big this place is. The valleys go on for ever and mountains never seem to stop reaching up for the sky.

My first moose! He (she?) was HUGE. Just when I thought I'd never see a live moose, this one was near the side of the road as I was zipping along at 110. (That's kilometers, don't get exicted). I didn't mention earlier that I had seen three bear on the way up to Hyder (none on the way back). First, a black bear (a good sized one) scooted across the road about 1/4 mile in front of me. He looked my direction, so maybe he knows the rules about crossing the road and looking first. I saw him on BC-16 West before Kitwanga.

The second was a brown bear about the same size. He was on BC-37 (leaving Kitwanga). He was on a bit of a ledge on my side of the road, laying on his back scratching his back. By the time I saw him, I wasn't sure if i should turn around for a picture or just hope I was lucky and keep going. I chose the latter.

Here's that moose again. Just before he got spooked by some other tourists who kept wanting to get closer to get a picture. Ever hear of a zoom? At least I got turned around in time to get back and get my camera out.

The arse end of that moose, taking off.

This is Gary. Met him in Burns Lake area. He's from Prince George. Nice guy!

This is Bulldog (Kevin) and Laurel. Met them in Burns Lake just after Gary left. They saw me preparing to leave and stopped in just to talk. Turns out Bulldog had some great tips on different routes back toward Calgary. Dunno if I'll be able to do it, but he sure made it sound interesting!

What a cool place Esther's Inn in Prince George is! This bottle of sparkling apple juice was waiting for me in my room. That's awesome! Want to know what's more awesome?

This is! Esther's Inn put up this huge banner for me! I'm a rock star! That's twice in one day that folks have welcomed me to their town with a banner. And the best part is that they mention the CCFA!

My last look at the sign that leads to the Highway to Alaska. From this sign, Alaska (Hyder) is just 140 miles away!