August 30
58mi/93km
2200ft/671m elevation gain
We saw 4 bears today! All Black Bears, and all ran away when we yelled at them. And we met some fellow journeyers.
It did rain last night and into the morning, so we avoided getting out of the tent until it stopped. It was still cloudy and misty looking, so there was no hope of the tent getting dry. Still, we waited as long as possible to pack it up. We took advantage of the covered picnic tables at the campground to cook breakfast, and although one of our tenting neighbors said she saw a grizzly in the campground this morning, we never saw it.
Shortly after leaving camp, we came to a bridge over a creek and could see Sockeye Salmon swimming upstream to spawn.
It drizzled on and off for most of the morning, but we were surprised to have some sun and blue sky in the afternoon. We took advantage, and stopped for a lunch break and set the tent out. It helped, but it started raining again soon enough so we had to rush to pack it back up again. We met a motorcyclist riding from Anchorage to Salt Lake City who has hiked a portion of the Arizona Trail, so we chatted with him for several minutes before we all got back on the road.
Soon after, we met two cyclists going north, Ryan and Ilsa,nearly completing their journey from Patagonia. I recognized them from seeing some of their videos on YouTube. We talked with them for awhile, we asked about their journey and they asked about ours. Not long after, we turned off the Cassiar Highway and back into a dirt forest service road, heading through the Nisga’a Lava Beds on the way to Prince Rupert. It was nice to get off the busy highway, even if it was a little muddy. We got another brief burst of rain, but the rest of the day was mostly sunny, which was a pleasant surprise.
Finding a good camp spot was a little tricky, but we found a decent clearing to set up for the night. We expect more rain tonight, but we still have patches of blue sky and even found a dry patch of ground under a pine tree to cook and eat dinner. We picked some clover blossoms and brewed some tea with our dinner. It’s the little things.
I think I saw some Warbling Vireos today, but I’m not certain. Did see a Red-tailed Hawk, and the Canada Jays are starting to get competition from Steller’s Jays. And another way the scenery is changing: the semis hauling rock and gravel all over the north have been replaced by semis hauling timber.