The Cassiar Highway (BC 37) = Bears

Okay, so the big deal with August 6 was the amount of bear sightings! First, we were driving through Old Hazelton, which was supposed to be restored to look like it did in the 1890s. It certainly did not look much like that, and we were disappointed in it. We drove to the end of town where the street dead-ended, and just as we were turning around, we saw something moving across the river. A black bear! We parked and watched him until he disappeared. He was just hanging out by the water, strolling along, occasionally picking up speed, like he was playing. Here he is below (it was hard to get a good pic of him because I don't know how to make the camera focus on the far away object instead of the close up weeds):

We thought we were lucky at that, but then we got luckier. Driving north on the Cassiar Highway is an adventure in itself. The "highway" is actually more like a backroad, with no painted lines and much damage that they're sometimes in the process of fixing and sometimes not. There are enormous dips and bumps from frost heaves (where, when the frozen ground thaws underneath the pavement, it literally heaves the road up in places). Lots of holes, and gravel breaks. I feel bad for my poor car (which by the way is covered in about a pound of dust and bug guts). But anyway, we were rewarded for our perseverance when I spotted something black moving alongside the road ahead. As we got closer, it was obviously a bear, kind of young, foraging. There was one car behind us, but he must have been used to bears because he didn't stick around. We stopped and I got several pics, but I had trouble getting clear ones because my hands were shaking. :) I never expected to be quite so close to a bear!




Just a mile or two on down the road was another! It looked like they were probably brothers; they looked about the same size. Since this one stayed on my side of the road, I got better pics and a video, which I'll try to post separately. Aren't they just adorable? We didn't stay near them too long, because allowing bears to get used to people and cars is bad for both bears and people, but it was still an amazing experience!