The time spent in Hyder was our last time in Alaska and once we left Stewart it was a push for 2 days of driving to complete our caravan’s journey. However, I think the drive to our next stop at Fort Telkwa RV Park was one of Randy’s favorite parts of this trip.
Day 59’s journey was 212 miles from Stewart to Fort Telkwa RV Park in Telkwa, BC. It started out with low hanging clouds but we ended the day in sunshine and I could change into shorts for the first time in quite a while! It felt great to be warm! The roads went from winding, narrow roads with no shoulders to slightly larger roads with lines but still no shoulders, to finally roads with lines and shoulders and now lots of traffic lights. During the drive we stopped at the Gitanoyow Historic Village to see their Old Totem Poles and to get our final photo for the scavenger photo contest. These are some of the oldest known and largest collection of totem poles in British Columbia. Some are replicas with the originals preserved at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria. I think the picture of one of our fellow caravan members, Jim, and me is the Hole in the Ice Totem from 1850. I am not sure if this is the original or a replica but it is an unusual totem with a large hole near the bottom. I wondered what the local residents thought about all of these big rigs in their small, poor community. There were so many rigs at the village that it was tough to turn around so I know at least Randy and Jim went through the community to get back on the road to Telkwa. There is a museum there but it was not open which was a shame since we could have learned more about the totems and the people that built them.
Randy’s favorite part of the day and maybe the trip was spotting the Witset Canyon with the natural fish ladder and log building. He was so excited when he recognized it from where he stopped with his parents in 1966 and bought his smoked moose-hide gloves and his mother bought rabbit lined moose-hide moccasins. He had been disappointed several times during this trip when he would visit areas that he remembered from his earlier trip and they looked nothing like they looked in 1966. I know he understood his previous trip was 53 years ago, but to him Alaska should not have changed as much as it did. I think Juneau was his biggest disappointment with all of the changes. When he visited Juneau, it was a very small town. Now it is a bustling city.
We were already past the Witset Canyon when Randy recogized it and since there was nowhere close by to park, we proceeded to the RV Park where we disconnected the Jeep so we could go back. We were lucky the Widzin Kwan Diyik Be Yikh (Widzin Kwah Canyon House Museum) up on the hill was still open as they close for the season the next day. Jackie that works at the museum said she was 2 when Randy was here and told us some of the history of the area. She looked at the picture of the beaded moccasins and thinks they were made by Madeline Alfred, the mother of Henry Alfred, a hereditary chief of the Wet’suwet’en, a First Nations people. Madeline also held a hereditary title Dz’eeh. They had women’s moccasins for sale at the museum for $200. They were nowhere near the quality of the ones that Randy’s mom had bought for a few dollars in 1966. Hers are almost white and the quality of the beading is superb.
After taking a final look at everything in the museum and the canyon, we headed back to the campground. We arrive just in time for our final travel meeting to plan the next day’s trip to our final caravan stop in Prince George, BC. As soon as we joined the meeting, Debbie asked me if I had any more photos for the contest. I was surprised to hear I won second place in our scavenger photo contest. It was fun taking pictures along our route every day. And the Alaska bear statue that I won already has a spot in the RV.
