Cassier Highway Yes/No

[lostinfl]

Have seen many positive comments on this forum regarding the Cassier Highway. Will be heading back to the lower 48 in the next several weeks and 9 out of 10 travelers stopping in the camp ground we are working at recommend who have come up that way recommend not taking it. Bad road, narrow roads no guard rail, do not haul a toad if you are going ect. ect. Anyone travel this way with an accurate report. Thanks in advance.

[Darryl&Rita]

Are you prone to falling off the couch at random times? The Cassiar (note spelling) is a wonderful highway. If you can handle roads with less than 10' wide shoulders, more than a few twisty sections, and more scenery than your mind, or iPhone, can absorb, take it. You've already seen the Alcan, so see some new country.

[Charles Skinner]

We drove it in 2008, and loved it!

 

C. S.

[Rif]

We drove it in 2007 with the Volvo and a 43' fiver. Loved every minute of it. Some sections were in need of repair, as always in the north country, but I don't recall any problems.

[Rick & Alana]

We drove if in 2012, no problem and will drive it next trip up. I'd say don't miss it.

[RV_]

We drove it in 99 before many of the improvements made since. Loved it. Make sure you stop at the Jade mine store! The scenery is fantastic. Also bear in mind how many people who traveled the same road you did coming up who, shale we say, "embellished" the condition of the road a tad because they could not figure out what those durn flags were for.

[lostinfl]

Thanks all. Just trying to verify if the road has degraded in the past year and whether or not these folks have embellished. I have spoken with 40 different campers and most said they would not travel it again. Perhaps they could not handle anything less then a 4 lane paved highway. Road conditions can and do change at times and wondered if something has changed in the past year.

[lostinfl]

RV-good point. Thanks for the tip.

[AFchap]

We drove the Cassier in 2013 from North to South with a 22 rig caravan. It was w/o shoulders much of the way, and mostly gravel, but no worse than most other roads on the trip (better than some) other than being much more dusty in places. It goes through some very remote country, with beautiful scenery.

[NH2]

recommend who have come up that way recommend not taking it.

Depending on the year, the Cass can be riddled with potholes, frost heaves and washed-out shoulders but those issues usually occur in the spring. The comments made to you by others who "came up" the Cassiar related those negative experiences. I haven't traveled the road in a few years but I'm guessing your trip to the lower 48 this time of year will be fine.

Mark

[Mike and Claudia]

I agree--DO IT! Be sure and stop at Hyder to see the bears!

 

And if so inclined, to get Hyderized---whatever that is.

[KodiakJack]

Yes.

Later,

J

[lostinfl]

Thanks all, that's the way we will go and enjoy. I did not think it was as bad as people were saying and could not be as bad as all the construction through the parks highway.

[soos]

we took it last year and saw a spectacular display of the northern lights while traveling it.

[2gypsies]

We drove the Cassier in 2013 from North to South with a 22 rig caravan. It was w/o shoulders much of the way, and mostly gravel, but no worse than most other roads on the trip (better than some) other than being much more dusty in places. It goes through some very remote country, with beautiful scenery.

 

Just wondering if you meant the Top of the World Highway. The Cassier is paved all the way through unless they were doing some maintenance in some areas.

 

We, too, have driven it with our 40' motorhome with no issues. It's a beautiful drive with lots of wildlife.

[Charles Skinner]

We did not experience ANY of the bad things some of you wrote about. Perhaps the road condition was different when we drove it. About the Jade Store --- FREE CAMPING--- at the Jade store! --- What could be better than that? ---- Camping may be free there, BUT my pocket book was about $80.00 lighter when we left! --- But it was a great place to stop and rest and ------ oh, I hate this word ---- to SHOP! ---- Men, you might want to lock your wife in your rig while spending the night there. (Smile)

 

C. S.

[AFchap]

Just wondering if you meant the Top of the World Highway. The Cassier is paved all the way through unless they were doing some maintenance in some areas.

Nope. Despite it's reputation, the TOW had no dust for us but did have very sloppy mud in one section. We had a blown hydraulic hose on the Cassier North of Dease Lake. We lost 2-3 hours fixing it (no help around & according to one guy "300 miles from cell phone service"). Our stop for the night was at a neat remote rv park near Iskut, and not far North of there we had some miles of heavy dust on winding road into the setting sun ...we were effectively blind a few times in that area.

[LindaH]

We've driven the Cassiar, north to south, in the Fall both in 1998 and again in 2001. I don't remember it being bad. I agree with Mark that the people you spoke with encountered bad conditions because they drove it south to north in the Spring...before any road work for the season was done.

 

I agree with Mike and Claudia, too...stop in Hyder to see the bears fishing for Salmon in Fish Creek. And, if the weather is nice, continue on up the road to see Salmon Glacier. And, in Stewart, stop and tour the Toaster Museum (if it's still in existence)!

 

As far as getting "hyderized" in Hyder, here's one story (a Google search will bring up more):

 

http://www.sillyamerica.com/blog/2009/07/getting-hyderized-at-the-glacier-inn-in-hyder-alaska/

[BandBuds]

We drove it up in mid June and had no real difficulty. There was a section of about 20 mile or so (can't remember where) that was gravel and rutted, where we only did about 15 - 20 MPH. Another section under repair with a pilot car that took off and left us blind, as there were 2 tractors sweeping the road creating a virtual dust storm. If not for the blinking blue lights on the tractors, we may have run into one doing only 15 MPH. Agree that the scenery was worth the bumps. We have been on a number of roads in Alaska with no shoulder, lots of bumps and gravel, so the Cassiar is not much different. Of course the miles and miles of nothing (man made/cell service) can be a bit disconcerting, but the landscape is beyond description. Take it and just go slow!

[KodiakJack]

We've driven the Cassiar, north to south, in the Fall both in 1998 and again in 2001. I don't remember it being bad. I agree with Mark that the people you spoke with encountered bad conditions because they drove it south to north in the Spring...before any road work for the season was done.

Agree. As a general rule north to south is a good idea because by fall they have had the summer to work on the road.

Later,

J

[jjwicklund]

We just came off the Cassiar a few hours ago, the road is in fairly good to excellent but that is after driving down from Beaver Creek to Destruction Bay. They were doing some paving up north looked like they were near done,and chip topping south of the Stewart/Hyder cutoff. We did see a big sow grizz work the creek I would drive it again next time we make the trip north. The nice part is there wasn't much traffic and numerous fuel stops, we've been filling at half tank and you need to stretch anyway.

[Bob Vaughn]

Last July (2014) we left Watson Lake headed south on the Cassier highway. OMG until we got near Jade the road was horrible....potholes so bad we had to slow down to 5 mph.....plus road surface was really bad......It looked like logging trucks may have torn it up.....I was thinking seriously of turning around and going back to the Alaska Highway. But stuck it out......

[lostinfl]

Thanks all, John thanks for the current condition report. Leaving in two weeks so I expect to find the same conditions as you did. Having heard so many positive reports over the years, I was surprised by all the negatives I heard this year but I think many may have hit it during repair/heave time and did not recognize what the flags meant.

[bruce t]

We done it way back in 1998 so I guess it may have changed a wee bit in that time!! The road was terrible. Mud that stuck like $#@ to a blanket. Our toad was nothing more the a huge pile a goop with wheels on it. Potholes so bad that you could have buried our toad in them! Well maybe not that bad!

BUT. But it was worth every inch of it. You only get so many chances to see 'remote' country like this. One day it will be a super highway and folks will be shooting up and back to Alaska at 70+mph. Is that what we want? Do we not go RVing for these experiences?

 

Go and take your time. You'll have lots of stories to tell regardless of what the road is like.

 

regards

[Charles Skinner]

I continue to be amazed by what I read here regarding that road. I can not remember a single bad thing about it! Not one bad thing! I guess we must have hit it just right! Either some of you were on a different road, or WE were on a different road! I remember only a very short distance, perhaps two miles where the road was being worked on. That was in 2008. Strange the way different people look at a road.

 

C. S.