Prince Rupert, BC

I left Hyder with the sad truth in my mind that this was the last Alaskan place I would visit. Bye Bye, Alaska! CU again soon!

I rolled the short distance up the road to Stewart and parked at the municipal campground. It was before noon, and no one is around. That’s OK, I’ll take a little walk to town and see what’s up. It’s raining, and the campground looks like a rainforest, amazingly green and wet.

  

There is absolutely nothing doing in town. In fact, most of the buildings are closed up, and the place has a distinct ghost town feel to it. Much more so that Hyder, which actually IS something of a ghost town.

  

Do I really want to stay here? Heck no. I hike back to the rig, saddle up, and head out. The rain continues, and I drive back to the Cassiar highway, looking for maybe some sun.

  

I stop at Bear glacier and am thrilled to see a little bit of blue sky and sunshine on the glacier! Yay!

  

I have been staying at neat little forest service campgrounds all along the Cassiar, and this is another example: Bonus Lake. Small, quiet, and free. Nice views, too! This looks like prime moose habitat. I sit out in the cool but non-rainy evening and watch the lake. Alas, no moose, but I’ll keep hoping.

  

Dang! It’s raining again. The drive down to Prince Rupert is supposed to be really pretty… too bad I can’t see it!

  

I stop short of P.R. in a nice roadside pullout, backed up to a lake. Still raining. Oh, well.

  

The next day, I finally roll into Prince Rupert, in, you guessed it, the rain. The only good news is that it is supposed to stop tonight, and the next 2 days are supposed to be nice and sunny. The only campground in P.R. is a nice one, full hookups, and only 1/2 mile from the ferry dock. That will be handy in a few days.

  

The next day is sunny! I can’t tell you how nice it is to actually dry out! I break out the bike and start putting around town. I check out the small marina, and visit the port visitor’s center, which has a lot of interesting info about the very busy commercial shipping ports in P.R.

  

Right next to the marina is Cow Bay, the town’s tourist attraction. Mostly a collection of gift shops and restaurants.

   

Did I say it was a beautiful day? Oh, yeah, I did… I ride out to one of the big terminal areas to see if I can get some pix. This is a large container ship dock and loading area just south of town.

Four big cranes are moving container after container. 2 are loading containers onto the ship, and 2 are taking containers off and stacking them!

  

Some scenes from around the area. Very nice bays and ocean views! Oooh, reflections!

  

  

There are lots of hiking trails that take you through what is essentially a rainforest. This is from the hike out to Butz Rapids, a tidal bore that flows back and forth with the tides.

  

  

P.R. is a fair sized city… big enough for a WalMart! I do some shopping and marvel at the prices for beer and booze. I think the $38 + tax for a case of Bud would throw someone I know into cardiac arrest! For me, the $40 5th of Jack Daniels is enough to cause palpitations. As I drive around, I notice many really excellent murals on buildings, all done by a local artist. Here are a few. They really add to the appeal of the place!

  

Deer are everywhere, wandering through the RV park, and are often seen downtown!

  

On my last day, I take a trip to see the nearby Pacific Cannery. Built in the 1890s, this salmon cannery operated for over 90 years, now it is a museum and national historic site. Check out their website at http://www.northpacificcannery.ca/ 

    

Most of the buildings are still there, and are either as they were, or restored. The cannery is huge!

  

All of the old buildings are available for viewing, including the office, store, living quarters and bunkrooms.

  

One of the neatest things about the place is that all the old machinery is still in place, and they actually run it for you as part of their guided tour! All the old belt driven apparatus comes to life. That is really exceptional! This is in the can making section, where they stamped and formed the cans. That’s our guide, showing us how the machines worked!

  

This machine actually took the whole fish, de-headed it, trimmed the fins off, and then de-gutted the fish by means of those spinning brushes you see. In operation, it produced a constant spray of blood and guts. The workers had to wear rain gear to operate it! Ewww!

The gutted fish went next to a cleaning line called the slime tables where they were washed and trimmed.

  

Automated knives cut the fish into can-sized sections, then the fish was put into cans and sealed by a line of automated machinery. There are conveyor belts between each station that transferred things from one step to the next. Very Rube Goldberg looking, but was truly state of the art in the 30s and 40s.

  

  

Finally, the salmon was cooked in the can in these big steam retorts, essentially pressure cookers. Once cooled, the cans were labeled and packaged for shipment.

  

One of my favorite displays was this huge wall of all the labels they used during the production years. Some labels were considered very top-shelf, others were almost like todays generics and store brands. Prices varied widely, but it was all the same salmon! All processed and canned right here, the only difference WAS the label. I bet that’s true today.

  

  

I really enjoyed my visit to Prince Rupert! Tomorrow, at way too damn early in the morning, I have to be at the ferry dock, ready for the next leg of my adventure. See you then!