Day 26-28: The Cassiar Highway (Gitwangak/Kitwanga to Iskut to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory)
- Karen Derrick-Davis
- May 12
- 4 min read
Updated: May 14
Wildlife Bingo
Grizzlies!
Black Bears
Caribou
Otter
Highlights
meeting fellow travelers
GRIZZLIES for Mothers' Day!
Caribou
beautiful lakeside campground
waterfalls
first glacier
Hiccups
some campgrounds closed
Day 26 was Mothers' Day. When asked what I wanted for Mother’s Day, I said, “To see a grizzly!” Well, ask and you shall receive! In the morning, we saw our first Grizzly -- a skinny one meandering by the road. He (?) was unbothered when we stopped to take a photo and admire him.
It was thrilling to see this beautiful beast in the wild.
It is hard to explain how in the middle of nowhere the Cassiar Highway is. We drive for miles and miles (kilometers and kilometers) without seeing another car, or even an intersecting dirt road. Sites on the map appear to have no way to get to them -- like public campgrounds and hot springs that appear on the map to be very close to the highway. This is the most unpopulated wilderness I think I have ever driven -- even more so than west Texas!
You gas up whenever there is a station. Along this highway, it can be over 100 kilometers between the stations. Many towns have only one station.
We saw more bears than people! Yay! After our first Grizzly, came three more and then three Black Bears (another mama with two cubs).
We'd been warned about the frost heaves. I wasn't sure what to expect, but after two days on the Cassiar, I am quite familiar with them. We are sure to slow down when we see the little warning signs on the side of the road (red triangles) -- although sometimes, the heave does not seem to be there. Better safe than sorry!
We opted for a side trip off the Cassiar to Stewart, which is on the border of the southeast arm of Alaska. It was an amazing drive next to cliffsides full of waterfalls and cascades. We came upon our first glacier, Bear Glacier, with its very green lagoon. It started receding in the 40's and created the lagoon.
I was hoping to visit Salmon Glacier, but the road was not yet open for the season -- one drawback of coming late spring.
We feel so lucky that the trip along the Cassiar has been so clear. It would be such a shame to drive this highway with clouds blocking the beautiful mountain vistas.
After retracing our route back along the Stewart Highway and rejoining the Cassiar, we continued north. There are not very many campground options along this route. Though folks have told us that overnighting in a highway pullout is OK, we prefer to stay in actual campgrounds -- either public or private. The first we planned for and stopped at, Bell II (hotel & campground), no longer offered camping. The next option was 100 kilometers away. So, we gassed up and kept going. Since the sun does not set until 10pm, there is plenty of daylight for driving!
According to our book, Iskut had two private campgrounds. When we arrived, the first one was closed -- maybe not yet open for the season, maybe closed for good. Crossing fingers, we headed to the next one, Red Goat Lodge. We found the gravel drive and breathed a sigh of relief to see it was open...and, it was beautiful!!
The small Red Goat Lodge campground is right on a glassy and beautifully clear lake. We pulled in just before the rain came.
In the morning, we woke to fog -- we couldn't even see across the lake, not to mention the mountain. We noticed the rain that had pooled on our awning had turned to ice -- it was our coldest night, so far. A bit later, the sun started to burn off the fog to reveal the mountain -- starting from the top!
We started Day 27 with a belated Mothers' Day breakfast at a, rather the only, little Iskut diner, Kluachan Cafe -- delicious Eggs Benedict (hold the bacon, add tomato).
Then, more mountains and lakes -- many partially frozen. We also saw our first caribou -- though could not get a photo of him.
Tonight we are in Watson Lake, camped next to the same German visitors we camped next to last night, over 200 miles away!