EAAE Day 1: Terrace to Stewart via Kitwanga

 Arthur and I flew into Terrace on Friday the 11th of July.  Aileen met us at the airport and took us to her friend's house, where we set up the tent in the back yard.  We had light rain, which was a good test - the tent passed with flying colours!  Arthur and I took the short 15 walk to see the Terrace Wolves art installation at an overlook over the city.

Here is our tent - a 6-person Outbound tent from Canadian Tire.  We were camping in luxury as there were only two of us using it!  Big enough to stand inside so it was much easier to get dressed.  It kept us dry and protected us from mosquitoes and we could set up or tear down the tent in a few minutes.

After spending Friday and Saturday in Terrace, we set off on the Yellowhead Hwy 16 to Kitwanga, where we turned north onto the Cassiar Highway.  Kitwanga and the nearby community of Gitanyow are both famous for totem poles!

Here is the map for the first step of our journey, from Terrace to Stewart via Kitwanga.

Kitwanga poles

Gitanyow poles

Kitwanga is also home to the Gitwangak battle hill, which is the site of an ancient hill fort.  Arthur was particularly taken by the story of the chieftain Nekt and how he got his men to line the top of the hill with heavy, spiked logs.  When his enemies attacked, the defenders would roll the logs down on the warriors struggling their way up the steep slope.

River at the base of the hill:

View from the top of the hill back to the road.

Berries on top of the hill!

We carried on to Meziadin Junction and turned to the west toward Stewart BC.  There were absolutely amazing glaciers coming down toward the valley, such as the Bear Glacier seen here.

We arrived in Stewart, set up our tent and had a good walk around town.  Stewart is lovely, and well worth a longer visit.

Historic marker commemorating the Anglo-Russian treaty of 1825, which established the basis for the border between British North America (Canada) and Russian Alaska.

Traditional main street with historic buildings.

We explored the boardwalk out over the estuary.

And then a delicious meal at El Tostador, a fantastic Mexican restaurant in the Ripley Creek Inn.

And later, we connected with Tim and Matt at the campground :)  Matt is teaching Arthur how to cast his fishing rod behind Tim in his camp chair.

We could already tell we were getting north, as sunset was later than we were used to!  But nonetheless, it was late so we climbed into our sleeping bags for some needed rest.