Pulled out of Stewart/Hyder and what did we see but ANOTHER BEAR!!!! LOL! Walking casually along the side of the road - we have seen more bears along streets and roads than we have in all of our trip!!! This one stood like it was "POSING" for us! LOL!
The stands of Birch are so pretty, to those of us from Illinois who don't have the pleasure of seeing them in our area...
On our Journey to Smithers area, we came upon a sweet little Native area by the name of "Kitwanga". First I saw the pretty little church, VERY old, and it was just so charming I could not resist pictures - forgive the darkness of the pic, I should have lightened it - very cloudy day...
In front of THAT church was an unusual structure... not sure just exactly what it was intended for.. but it was charming, nonetheless... Turned out is the original Bell tower from 1893 and still houses the bell.
That poor abandoned church from the side, showing some of the beautiful windows. I would LOVE to live in a building that was formerly a church..
Peeking inside one of the front windows, while standing on a chopped off tree stump, I got to see the splendor of those beautiful Stained Glass windows! Breathtaking... And I love the carving on the piece at right... I really am surprised that this pic taken through the window came out so well!
Across from the Church, was a whole ROW of these figures! There were several of these, and I should have taken a picture of them from the end of the line - but it was starting to rain, so I only snapped a few... and then closeups of some
A young man came walking along the road (no sidewalks here) and I asked him if he could tell me how OLD they were and who may have carved them??? He said they were somewhere between 100 and 200 years old, but the story of who had carved them has been lost (young folks might not have thought that info was important in their lives....) I asked the young man if this area behind the totems had been a cemetery, since some of the carvings had grave stones at their bases. He said that it HAD been a cemetery - and was not built on.... Sacred ground.
This one was of particular interest to me, as it seems to be a human type figure holding a bear cub!
And THIS one below, has what appears to be an ALLIGATOR on it! Just can't imagine how the 150 year ago natives would have known about an ALLIGATOR way up here in British Columbia!! Strange....
And this one had rows of Frogs on it! We did not see ANY frogs up here in Canada!
After leaving that interesting area, we continued on down through the hills and valleys on the way down to Smithers.
Stopped at a Visitor's Center in Hazelton on the way also, and saw these neat sculptures... this one is the Logger, very important in the history of any of these areas up here, for shelter, clearing for roads and a source of income for the community..
Miners and packers were very much in need, and this sculpture depicts what was thought to be the best of the bunch -
Love the Gnarly clouds in the SKY!!!!!!! LOL!
This was one of the sculptures we saw when we got into the sweet town of Smithers! (closest we will ever GET to a mountain goat, I am thinkin!!!)
This is at our campground for a few days - Fort Telkwa...
Our back-in site overlooked the river...
Downstream....
Really enjoying our Journey!!!
GOOD WIFI HERE, so STAY TUNED!!!!!
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