usbackroads destination--Fish Creek Observation Site, Hyder, Alaska

usbackroads destination--Fish Creek Observation Site, Hyder, Alaska

date visited: July 24, 2016

The trip on Highway 37A is spectacular in its own right and will be covered later.  However, the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site in Hyder, Alaska is worth the trip. The bears come to feast on the salmon run and you get to watch it all from the safety of  the observation platform. In our case, the salmon showed up, but the bears came up missing. It is still worth the trip.

The cost for viewing the bears is $5 per day. Unfortunately, a Senior or Access pass will NOT get admission to this government run recreation facility. I believe, this really violates the Land and Water Conservation Act and the passes that provide free admission to government recreation facilities.  It seems that the Forest Service has joined the government agencies that have lost sight of the US Constitution where Congress passes the laws and the Executive branch enforces and implements those laws. It seems these days that the Executive branch wants to make it OWN laws.

Here is the bad news as posted at the site. 36 CFR 261.17 is failure to pay a recreation fee. Anyway, it is worth the five dollars. The Forest Service does need the money, but sometimes it would be nice for government agencies to follow the law.

The salmon were spawning in the stream.

There was evidence of bears eating salmon and leaving the "leftovers" for later.

If you click on the second photo you will even notice that the Forest Service saw a bear while we were there....unfortunately, nobody from the public saw the bear. But go anyway. The boardwalk is worth the $5 walk. Here is the Forest Service link with more information on the observation site: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r10/specialplaces/?cid=fsbdev2_038787.

I did notice a nice dispersed camping spot just up the road from the observation site. It is a short road to ends up in a gravel pit and there were several vehicles camped there.

Also in the area and well worth the trip on a clear day. Unfortunately, for me it was not a clear day. Here is the link for that site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_Glacier. So pick a sunny day after mid-July for a great trip watching bears feast on salmon and a really cool glacier.

Go on a cloudy rainy day and you might that, but it is still worth the trip.