Drove 4 hours to Ripley Creek Inn, our base for the next two days at Stewart. Hwy 37 is long, boring and flat. It rained, and my parents dozed. Hwy 16 and Hwy 37A are more scenic, especially Hwy 37A, aptly named Glacier Highway. We stopped for photos by Nass River bridge, Meziadin Lake, Surprise Creek, and Bear Glacier. Almost hit a black bear when she and her two cubs crossed the highway, as I screeching down from 100km/hr. Didn't do any walking here. Probably should explore next time, if I have more time, and weather is better.
After dumping our luggage in the room (in Cow's Landing - an ugly building from outside, quite nice and roomy inside), we headed to US to the bear viewing platform at Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site. No US border station on this side of the road, and you just drive through without stopping to the sign of "Welcome to Hyder, Alaska, the friendliest ghost town". We saw a black-ish bear on the far side of this pond, around 8pm. A bit too far and dark to see him clearly. About a dozen spectators and a couple of forest service employee. One guy showed me bear photos he took earlier at a different spot. Here, my US Federal Recreational Land Pass doesn't work. You pay $5/pp per entry, or $10/pp for a 3 day pass. We got the latter.Coming back to Canada requires a stop at the border. One officer will come out to meet you and ask many questions. One stayed inside to check on computers.
9/3, Saturday, partly sunny. Up early, arrived at Fish Creek site as the gate opened at 6:30am. Hung around and taking photos of the fish. Lots of them. At about 7:00, a group of gulls came, making a lot of noise. And 30 minutes later, all of them took off.
We now continued north on the same road to Salmon Glacier . At the hotel room, there's a nice brochure indicating the sites along the road all the way to Granduc Mine. The forest service station will lend you a copy if you ask, but don't have enough to distribute. 
A super scenic drive, along Portland Canal first, then Salmon River. Unclear when we drove back into BC, Canada. You'll drive by Premier Mine (gold). Not sure if it's still operating. 
Better views are further up on the road, opposite of the Salmon River Valley. 
The highlight is this enormous glacier. It's absolutely stunning. The sun was shining. We lingered there for over an hour. More people arrived, and left. At the most would be about a dozen people. It seems possible to scramble down to the glacier. But none did. Some security guy showed up later, and telling people that the road (gravel ahead) was closed to tourists, because they were laying some cables. So we didn't get to visit Granduc Mine. I returned the brochure to the Fish Creek station, was informed that no one had seen a bear today. We walked a bit on Titan Trail (leading eventually to Titan Mine), just to check it out, because the guy yesterday who showed his bear photos saw his bear here. Took more photos, as the light is good in mid day. A pretty place. Lots and lots of fish, dead and alive. Smell of rotting fish, not too strong.
Back to hotel for lunch. Before taking a nap, my stepmother and I walked to the estuary on the boardwalk starting from the Visitor Center next door. The old lady there told me that this year the bears started showing up in the town in April. Their bellies are full already, and it's too late for us to see them close any more. This year, not many grizzlies. The walk is delightful.
At 7pm, we were on our 3rd trip to Fish Creek. This time, we went to Titan Trail first. As I was walking (ahead of my parents), I could hear branch breaking noise to my right. When I approach the bridge, suddenly I saw a big black thing under the pier. I screamed and ran back, and he turned and walked away. A minute later, I walked back up with dad. We got on the bridge. Now safe, we could observe him crossing the creek, and soon disappeared into the woods.
9/4, Sunday, cloudy. Rose early again. Headed to Fish Creek at 6:30am. Saw a truck at the trailhead parking lot for Titan Trail. A guy brought in a canvas chair, patiently sitting on the bridge, holding his big lens camera. No bear. No bear at the park service station either.
Stopped by the boat launch area in Hyder before crossing border one last time (4th). Saw at least 3 seals, 2 bold eagles.
Had a late breakfast. Then drove out towards Terrace. Stopped by Clements Lake Recreational Site for a photo (picnic tables and camping available, no other facilities, and no people), again at Bear Glacier. Then it's a long and boring drive until Hwy-16. Rained on the way. Went for a 1 km (one way) walk in the Kleanza Creek provincial park. A small gorge with rushing water. Again, picnic tables and campsites, quite a lot of families. A nice break for me during the 280 mile drive.
Hwy-16 from Terrace to Prince Rupert is very scenic, along Skeena River. Made multiple photos stops: Exchamsiks River (boat launch, people are camping here, despite of the no-camping rule on the website), Telegraph Point and 
other rest areas along the road (pit toilet in stone structure). A pity to see trash/litter problems in such beautiful surroundings. Maybe people are mostly careless and destructive. Places closer to cities, we have public service to clean them up.
Prince Rupert is a small coastal town, just big enough to have a Walmart and Safeway (almost next to each other). The buildings in the town are rectangular, devoid of characters. The sunken garden behind the Court House is very small, but quite nice. 
From there, it's a short walk down to the harbor, named Cow Bay, which has all the touristy shops (mostly closed at this hour: not even 6pm), as well as cruise boats (none operating). September is the end of tourist season? The locals stroll here. I inquired about whales. 
You can see small fish in the water right at the harbor. When I walked back to hotel to pick up the car, my parents struck conversation with some local Chinese who got these halibut in the photo, one of whom has lived here for 40 years. All their kids are living in Vancouver. They said that the climate is as mild as Vancouver, but it has even more gray days.
Prince Rupert is on Kaien Island. Its airport is on Digby Island. You have to take a ferry to catch the plane! The ferry terminal is not within walking distance from downtown. It also has many fishing boats. We got stuck in the loading zone by a slow moving train. Clouds were too thick for good sunset.
9/5, Monday, overcast. Before driving to Terrace Airport for the 3pm flight, we drove to Port Edward to check out the century old North Pacific Cannery, a museum that was closed today (opens daily in July & August). A pretty setting.
Detailed route map on Google. Total driven: about 700 miles. I'll come back to Stewart sometime, in early August, and maybe do some hiking. I shall visit Prince Rupert again in spring, to see whales.
