An Explorer's Guide to The Glacier Highway (BC Hwy 37A)

Bear Glacier as seen from the edge of the road on September 15, 2002. The glacier used to fill the whole valley, but in the 1940s it began to retreat rapidly. Strohn Lake formed in the basin left behind, dammed by the remaining ice. The lake would ocassionally break through the glacial dam, causing catastrophic flooding downstream. This is known as a jökulhlaup, the Icelandic term for the event - between 1958 and 1962, there were five jökulhlaups here, and the damage can still be seen right to Stewart. By 1967, the glacier had retreated far enough that the lake was no longer dammed.