Bears gone bad.

No propane this morning, so no hot water for showers or coffee/tea, and this park happens not to have enough electricity for the microwave.  Stewart BC is only two miles away and has propane and the Glacier Inn in Hyder was recommended for breakfast, so off we go.

The Inn is really a bar with tables for meals all day.  Signed dollar bills in all currencies are stapled to the walls, and old safety helmets are mounted along the center beam indicating the popularity of the Inn with the various contractors at work here and Stewart.  Most are probably road workers, miners, or loggers.

The breakfast is good and I see the night manager of our camp here – he recommended the place.  Our waitress is young which raises the question of what happens to young people in a town of 100.  She has been attending college out of state and has been traveling a lot, so I guess she has things under control.

We cross to Stewart for propane and diesel.  The Canadian border people check our passports and question how long we will be in Canada (“45 minutes”) and if we are carrying any guns (“no”), and wish us a good visit.  The return to Hyder involves nothing more than passing a sign saying we are entering Alaska.

Marcia works on her gourds in the afternoon and I wander about taking pictures.  In the afternoon I hear a loud bang and later learn a bear tried to get some fried fish from “The Bus” and the owner, after trying a slingshot, fired off noisemakers to send the bear away.  She and the bear have an ongoing contentious relationship - the food is very good.

We hear the town dump often hosts 10-12 bears on a bad day.

Dinner at "The Bus" in Hyder AK.

A lot of talk around camp today about bears.  One wandered through this morning startling a couple of people.  Another, or perhaps the same one, crossed the street and rummaged in the back of a truck, then prowled to the second floor of a motel.