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Our
last day in Stewart/Hyder was the nicest we had weather-wise. We
drove back down the spur road in and out of those two towns. When
we first arrived, we could only see partially how beautiful it was
due to the cloud cover that day. Yesterday afternoon there was just
enough fluffy white clouds to crown the mountains beautifully, but
not cover their peaks.
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Just
one rainbow would have been blessing enough, but even though it's
hard to see in this picture, this is a double one!
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This,
I do believe, is the prettiest drive I've been on, possibly ever.
From the point that the spur takes off from the Cassiar, it is about
37 miles of pure bliss. The mountains rise dramatically, in places
not sloping at all, but just straight up to heaven, covered with
lush green trees that made me wonder how in the world they grow
when it looks like they're growing from straight walls with no ground
to hold them. The road is well paved but narrow, curvy and hugged
very closely by the surrounding mountains.
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I
don't know if they're always like this, or just after a couple of
days of pretty constant rain, but I have never seen so many waterfalls
- dotting the mountainsides so profusely that you couldn't possibly
count then all - all different sizes, heights and breadths. Some
originated from the distant heights of the glaciers at mountaintop,
spilling over in straight lines, then making terraces and going
through gorges as they carve and illuminate the landscape with their
lightening-like slashes.
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There
was a spot that was so massively beautiful - a huge panoramic mountain
so filled with waterfalls spilling over from impossibly high glaciers
above, then onto jagged multi-colored granite boulders on one level,
then prancing through lush green valleys on their way down to join
and merge with others equally beautiful originating from other,
differently beautiful sources, then into the rushing water churning
alongside the road accompanying you as you drive along. I was completely
overwhelmed and if I could ever choose a view on which to build
my house, this would be it. It would be an ever-changing galaxy
of waterfall stars, wispy clouds moving and making patterns and
shadows on the master of ceremony mountains - it never looked the
same way twice each time I looked upon that scene and I know I would
never get tired of watching it.
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Then
you come upon Bear Glacier - spilling right into the iceberg-filled
water where you can watch it from the roadside stop so close the
air is permanently chilled.
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Although
glaciers seem timeless, this one must change constantly because
yesterday we marveled at a snow cave right in the middle of the
edge of the glacier, and today part of the ceiling had caved in
to make a skylight where the light shone through to the water below.
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