Nass Nostalgia

After last minute visiting and a quick breakfast, we managed to leave Terrace mid morning. Our evening destination was Stewart through the Nass Valley. The Nisga Highway is a 169km scenic drive that undulates through the valley initially paralleling the Kitsumkalum River to Kalum Lake. At the north end of the lake resides the rural community of Ross Wood with its scatter 150 homesteading residents, served by its iconic General Store.

We soon reached the turquoise waters of Lava Lake. It was created in the 1700s when lava from the Tseax Cone hardened and acted as a natural dam across the valley.

We enjoyed the warm breeze while following the twisty-turny highway though the forest that gave way to the lichen cover lava bed.

Clouds were still clinging to the mountain tops that soon dispursed revealing the glacier capped summits. We enjoyed these gleaming vistas while having lunch on the patio at the Lava Roc Restaurant in New Aiyansh while fueling our bellies with burgers.

Our next stretch of the journey took us across a 50km stretch of forest service road to connect to the Stewart-Cassier highway. Initially the road made navigation questionable with all the loose chunky gravel, but it eventually became more hardpacked and enjoyable. Thankfully there was very little traffic. Along the way we saw a friendly waving hitchhiker. We stopped and had a good visit with the guy, G. He was headed back home after helping at his friend's remote offgrid cabin.

When we reached the paved highway, stopped to enjoy the scenery of the Cranberry River, hydrate and dust off the remnants of the gravel road.

The north bound route never ceased to amaze us with it endless snow capped vistas and picturesque landscape. We eventually arrived at the Meziadin Juntion to head west to Stewart. A heard J mention the "nice" lake with a bit of a southern drawl. Then the realized he probably said Nass Lake 😂, which would have made sense, but its called Meziadin Lake, which connects to the Nass River; it sure is nice! The tight valley was dominated by distance glaciers and looming mountain slopes. We made another stop by Strohn Lake and Bear Glacier.

The weather forcast was fabulous so Rainey Creek Campground was our destination. A very friendly helpful caretaker checked us in. We were assembling our tent when we realized we had a audience, D & T from the ferry! They arrived today and staying at the hotel in town. They invited us to join for a delicious dinner at El Tostador. The Margheritas were tasty too.Read more