Hyder, Alaska and Salmon Glacier, B.C.

Written Thursday, June 2, 2016

Today I crossed the international border four times and only stopped at customs once.

Hyder, Alaska, as I noted to one local, is the second quirkiest border crossing on the entire length of the Canada-U.S. border.

She looked at me puzzled: “Second? What’s the first?”

Stanstead, Quebec and Derby Line, Vermont, I told her. But that’s a different story.

Nonetheless, Hyder, as a border crossing and a community of about 100 people calling itself, “The Friendliest Ghost Town in Alaska,” is pretty quirky.

There are no U.S. customs authorities. In fact there are no authorities of any kind unless someone commits a murder or something and they have to bring them in from elsewhere.

The RCMP cross the border from time to time to do courtesy patrols, but they don’t have jurisdiction to do anything other than report any problems to distant U.S. authorities.

The only sign of customs authorities is the Canada Border Services Agency post in an Atco trailer when you return from Hyder to Canada. They just don’t want any cheap Yankee booze, illegal firearms or marijuana coming into Canada.

As you leave Hyder to return to Canada, someone with a sense of humour put up a sign in English, French and German: “Checkpoint Charlie: You are leaving the American sector.” Shades of cold war Berlin.

Down the road a little as you enter Hyder, you pass the Glacier Inn on the left, which has a big sign: “Get Hyderized.” The tradition since the 1950s is you pour back a shot of 190 proof grain alcohol and they give you a card proving your achievement. I gave this tradition a pass as I had driving to do.

Caroline, who runs a gift shop and was standing in front smoking a cigarette, started a conversation. She’s been in Hyder nearly 40 years. It’s not for everyone, she said, but she loves it. She’s out of her element when she goes to a city.

I asked her about the border.

Caroline told me that once the Canadian authorities got the brilliant idea to close the customs post at night, which effectively trapped the people in Hyder. There’s no other way out by land to anywhere except through Canada. This created a bad situation in cases of medical emergency.

People in Hyder use the 250 B.C. area code. Their electricity comes from B.C. Hydro. They send their kids to school over the border in Stewart. They use Pacific Time like B.C., even though a former postmaster insisted in going by the book and using Alaska time.

“We’re two countries, but one community,” said Caroline.

I stopped in at the post office to mail a postcard I’d bought in Caroline’s shop. The young woman postmaster was not the same one as the “by-the-books” one, who apparently was two before her.

I asked if by any chance she had the new National Park stamps, which include my photo of Carlsbad Caverns. She said she thought she did, and she checked the release date. June 1. She could sell me a sheet of the entire series.

She was impressed and almost unbelieving when I told her I’d taken the photo on the stamp and she asked me about it. I gave her a copy of the OK Sun that had Lyonel Doherty’s story about it.

I don’t believe they sell that stamp individually, but I’ll order a set of first-day covers when I have a chance.

Next I headed north of Hyder on a road that leads to a couple mines, but of more interest it crosses back into B.C. just before the spectacular Salmon Glacier.

This crossing has no customs in either direction. The only indication of the border is a welcome to B.C. sign, a small metal border marker cone in the brush, and a long strip cleared of vegetation stretching along the border over the hills. They apparently clear the brush every 10 years.

Salmon Glacier extends as a long tongue down a valley to just above a lake. Like Bear Glacier, it was once longer, but with climate change it is melting. It was still very impressive to look down on it from the gravel road high above.

Back into Alaska and there wasn’t even a welcome sign. My third border crossing and still no customs.

Only when I got back to Checkpoint Charlie did I have to stop, returning into Canada.

She asked me the usual questions, and then got to the one about firearms and weapons. I always just say “no,” but then she asked me specifically about bear spray, which I had.

As long as you have it for bears and not humans, it’s legal. She smiled and told me that clearly there was a reason to have it in these parts. There are bears everywhere.

I did see one black bear beside the road, but no grizzlies. At Fish Creek north of Hyder there’s an observation spot where you can get a great view of grizzlies fishing for salmon, but it was still a bit early in the season for them.

Back in Stewart, it was still pouring rain, but the most brilliant sun I’ve seen since I left Osoyoos was beaming through the clouds. It was almost blinding as I wasn’t used to it. A rainbow floated above Stewart’s main street, and it remained on and off for well over an hour.

I hope it portends better weather as I head back north tomorrow up the Cassiar.