Visiting Salmon Glacier Near Stewart, BC – One Of Our Favorite Road Trip Stops To/From Alaska

Visiting Salmon Glacier was one of the highlights of our journey to Alaska and back.

It’s fairly near the small town of Stewart in British Columbia, Canada (see this post for more about our time there). Someone had recommended to Stephen that we visit Stewart as there was a bear observation deck in nearby Hyder, AK, plus because it would be a beautiful drive there. When researching other things to do in the area, we came across Salmon Glacier.

I then came across this blog post and knew it was something we needed to check out.

How To Get To Salmon Glacier

The biggest thing to be aware of when visiting Salmon Glacier is the road conditions. We were in our 2004 Toyota Corolla and we made it up there just fine in July 2024. There were also people in large RVs and on motorcycles. However, parts of the drive could be dicey depending on the current conditions of the road, so always check those out and stay alert as you drive. Also, watch for rock falls as we encountered them along the way in both directions.

We started by putting Salmon Glacier Lookout into our GPS. If you’re coming from Hyder, AK you’ll pass the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site; when the salmon run is on, you can see bears there fishing for salmon. It’s worth a stop in on your way in or out to Salmon Glacier.

Watch for other wildlife along the road – we came across a marmot looking to cross the road. But be sure to use your hazards to stop as the mine that’s near there has trucks and workers coming and going all day and they’re usually travelling at a higher rate of speed than you might be.

There are signs along the way about the mine. If you stay on the main road to Salmon Glacier you’re just fine and not trespassing. Don’t veer off on to other roads as those are the mine’s private property. We paused along the main road for a picture of waterfalls along the way.

Viewing Salmon Glacier

Had I not seen the pictures from the aforementioned blog post, I might not have known you could get much closer to Salmon Glacier than the original viewpoint location on Google Maps. We’re big rule followers in many ways and with the mine along the route we might’ve been nervous, but it was perfectly fine to head up there along the public roads, past the mine, to Salmon Glacier from various, and progressively closer, viewpoints.

If you’re short on time but want a closer view, go 1 mile past the original Salmon Glacier Overlook location. You can see the toe (terminus) of the glacier and there’s a cave carved out of the ice with water running out of it. If you’re up for the drive, it’s 5.9 miles more to Salmon Glacier Scenic Viewpoint which overlooks the glacier at its turn.

There are vault toilets up there for comfort breaks, as well as picnic tables that give you a fantastic view while you have a bite to eat.

This is also a great location for pictures on a rocky outcropping in front of the glacier.

If you head over the other side of the road from the viewpoint, there’s a narrow stream you can walk up depending on the conditions. It’s worth heading up there as there are ponds and other nice scenic views.

We were very fortunate the day we visited. The weather always changes up there and we had a VERY clear day to view most of Salmon Glacier. We overheard a tour guide (from a local tour company) saying that you can have the weather change in just that 6 mile drive from the original overlook and have the top of the glacier completely obscured from view by the time you arrive at this location.

I asked the guide if there was any way to get closer to the glacier as the blog post we’d read seemed to indicate that there were closer spots where you could get lower in altitude and nearer the glacier. He said there was a road just along the way and that it would take us about half the distance lower to the glacier than we already were. Any lower than that and it’s unsafe as the road is treacherous. He also warned to never walk on the glacial ice as it can be incredibly dangerous.

From the scenic viewpoint we drove 1.9 miles and there was a sharp turn to our left as he’d described. It was then 0.9 miles down to where the road became impassable.

We stopped there to get our closest images of Salmon Glacier. We were able to do a three point turn in our car, but anything larger than an SUV and you’d have to back up a considerable way before finding a safe spot to turn around. This lower section is therefore not really doable with an RV, camper or large van.

Even if you don’t want to go down closer to the glacier, if you love waterfalls, I recommend driving beyond the large viewpoint with the toilets to see the waterfall across the way. The water is falling out of the ice and it was really incredible.

Returning From Salmon Glacier

If you’ll be driving back from Salmon Glacier through Hyder to (or through) Stewart, be aware that there’s a customs checkpoint as you enter Stewart as you’re effectively driving in to Canada from the US. You’ll therefore need to have your passport with you.

More Photos Of Salmon Glacier

I sifted through the 159 photos of Salmon Glacier and its surrounding views to bring you the best images taken with my Nikon D5600 and Tamron 70-200 lens (our affiliate links)

Conclusion

The journey back from Salmon Glacier felt much faster than the way up, but that’s always the way isn’t it!? I highly recommend taking a day trip to see Salmon Glacier. It’s one of my favorite memories from our entire journey up to, through, and back down from Alaska.

We enjoyed stopping multiple times for views and photos of waterfalls, wildlife and Salmon Glacier. We even made a connection with two lovely men who were visiting from Eastern Canada on their own epic road trip – hi Pierre and Jean-Yves!! We saw them again later that night at the spot we all chose for dinner and snapped this pic together.