The roads after leaving Destruction Bay heading to Haines were much better than the last several days which made it a delightful 213 mile trip on the Alaska Highway and the Haines Highway. We had gorgeous views of the Kluane Range, Kathleen Lake, the Klukshn Wetlands and the Chilkat River.
Haines is one of our last stops with multiple day activities. Most of the rest of our stops are just resting stops between long drives. One of the best was saved for last. We were fortunate that we arrived when we did and that we could get into Haines. The caravan that arrived before us had 3 days of rain, with heavy downpours the last day. When John and Carol arrived at the border, they were informed that the road was closed due to mudslides and no one would be able to get through. The border agent told them to drive to the next pull over spot where they could get cell service to let everyone know to wait in Haines Junction until the road was opened the next day. Fortunately, we did not get the message so we kept going. Temporary road repairs were made so John and Carol could get through. No cell service kept us from getting her second text message too. By the time we arrived at the border, the road had been reopened. This was the first border crossing that I had to deal with the questions. The normal lane only had a 12’ clearance so we had to use the outside lane where the border agent came up to my window. So far all of the border crossings have been painless. I just hope they stay the same once we depart from the caravan.
Once we got closer to Haines there were several construction areas with one-way traffic that needed an escort There were also several areas where you could see that mud had been recently scraped off of the road due to the recent rains. Fortunately, they reopened the road shortly before we arrived. One section was particularly bad where water and mud were still flowing over the road. While Ben and Sandy were waiting to cross the washed-out area, we pulled in behind them with Dan and Sarah behind us. We used the radios to talk as each other as we crossed. None of us had any problems but there was a small red car that several people were trying to dig out. It was buried in mud and rocks from where it got stuck in the mud slide. We were told later that this is a known problem area for mud slides.
John and Carol were just setting up at the Haines Hitch-UP RV Park when we arrived, so we unhitched the Jeep and Randy went to get fuel. It was expensive at $4.09/gallon but when Ben checked the prices in Haines Junction where we planned to stop on the way out, it was even more expensive when you calculated the per liter price. However, we forgot to calculate the exchange rate, so it would not have been too bad in price. We were rewarded with one of the few 50-amp spots. Carol said this was a thank you for us having to move sites in Valdez. Mitch got one too! After we set up, we took the Jeep for a much-needed wash. The fenders had lots of mud from going over the muddy, washed-out area.
Based on advice from the RV’ing to Alaska 2019 Facebook page and our Tail Gunner, Ricky, we headed out to the Chilkoot River on the way to the Chilkoot Lake State Rec Campground. While we did not see anything on our first drive through, we decided to park and wait to see if any bears showed up at the weir. A gentleman was out on the weir working. It looked like he was counting salmon as they swam through the only open area. He was also using a gaff to remove salmon that were stuck in sections of the weir. While we were parked a volunteer at the park came up to us and told us about the local bears. She warned us to watch for a bear coming off of the hill right in front of where we parked where a blue ribbon was hanging identifying a trail that a grizzly sow has been using. She had lots of information on the bears in the area. She had names for all of the local bears but I was not quick enough to write them down. The dark almost black bear that normally visited the weir from the other side was the 2015 cub of the sow from our side. She told us the bears would probably not visit the weir while the worker remained on the weir, but we decided to wait. While waiting quite a few caravan members showed up and stayed near us to also watch for the bears. It wasn’t long before quite a few people showed up from wildlife tours. We got a chance to watch a bald eagle snag a salmon. The eagle stayed on shore eating the salmon and even gave us great pictures from a rock in the middle of the river. That eagle stayed in a nearby tree for a long time. Even though the worker remained on the weir and there were quite a few people on our side, the small grizzly popped out of the woods on the other side looking for salmon. While we watched she made several trips out on the weir, caught a salmon and then took it back to shore to eat the salmon. One time the worker waved his arms to scare her away, but she still kept coming back for those salmon. We spotted more eagles, cleaning up from the sloppy bears. The eagles would swoop in and fill up on the left-overs. We were able to get some good pictures but Randy really had camera envy over some of the big lenses other caravan members had. Ricky and Debbie went to the bridge later in the day and saw several bears just upstream from where we watched.
On our second day in Haines, we took the Fjord Express Day Cruise fast ferry from Haines to Juneau. I would highly recommend this boat and captain. It was a great day on the water.
Juneau is Alaska’s capital and located on the Gastineau Channel, Juneau can only be reached by boat or air. There has been talk about putting in a road to Juneau, but It would be very expensive and approval from the Canadian Government would be needed. We were fortunate to have a beautiful sunny day; especially since the city averages 222 days of precipitation a year.
Juneau was very crowded with at least 5 cruise ships in port. Our caravan itinerary said it included a visit to Mendenhall Glacier, but we found out that it was no longer included in the tour. That may have been because the contract for Mendenhall tours was lost and I believe the price was raised considerably. We spent the day enjoying the harbor activity, including watching seals around the large cruise ships, finally getting some Alaskan King Crab for lunch and another tour of a hatchery. We ate lunch at Tracy’s King Crab Shack. The food was good, but expensive. We shared one crab sandwich, one crab claw and one crab leg with two drinks that totalled over $80. After lunch we went to the DIPAC Macaulay Salmon Hatchery. This hatchery seemed to be the largest and best run of the others that we have toured but its size was due to the public displays and aquarium. The hatchery raises over 130 million chum, king and coho salmon annually so even though the building appeared larger, it releases less fish than the Solomon Gulch Hatchery in Valdez. Randy particularly liked the 5,000-gallon salt-water aquarium where we could view the different types of rock fish and halibut. With all of the smaller tanks the hatchery houses over 150 local marine species, including several touch tanks.
Randy always enjoys talking to the captain
The fast ferry had dropped us off at one end of the island where a bus picked us up to take us to town. As planned, the fast ferry picked us up later in the afternoon at the small boat harbor so that we could take a different way back to Haines. We were very fortunate to see eagles, Stellar sea lions, otters, seals, several humpback whales, many Dall’s porpoise and even Orca whales. The captain told us that orcas are rare in the area so it was an unexpected treat!
The next day I decided to sleep in while Randy took the ferry to Skagway with the rest of the caravan members. He said Skagway was very crowded with 4 cruise ships, but he had enough time to do a little shopping before the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad Scenic Journey. Before the railroad was built, the quickest way from the West Coast to the gold fields was up the Inside Passage to the Lynn Canal at Skagway. From there travelers had to hike 45 treacherous miles over mountainous terrain to reach Lake Bennett where they floated another 555 miles down the Yukon River. There were two trails over the mountain to Lake Bennett. The Chilkoot Trail started north of Skagway or the White Pass trail that started at Skagway. In 1898, British Investor, William Close, hired three railroad men to determine whether a railroad could be built from Skagway to the Yukon River. They did not believe it could be done until they talked with Michael J. Heney, an Irish Canadian railroad contractor that convinced them he could build the railway. With $10 million from Close and other British investors, the line was completed after 26 month and 450 tons of blasting powder.
Randy said it was good that I had not gone, as the train swayed considerably on the two-hour trip up the 20 miles of rail from Skagway; climbing from sea level to almost 3,000 feet, to reach the Summit. The sites along the way included the Gold Rush Cemetery (Milepost 2.5); Bridal Veil Falls (Milepost 11.5); and Inspiration Point (Milepost 17). Once the train reached the summit, the railroad made a huge loop so it could make the return trip to Skagway.
Once Randy returned from his scenic tour of Skagway, we went back to look for bears. Before we even got to the weir, we saw a large grizzly in the water searching for salmon. Randy followed her along the shore as she proceeded downstream. After getting several pictures of this sow, we took the Jeep back to the bridge where another bear (Randy thinks it was a different bear) was catching salmon right under the bridge. One of these bears was probably the one named Speedy. I could not believe how close we were to a wild bear. She was totally oblivious to anyone on the bridge while catching salmon. She also proceeded downstream where she consumed more salmon. A bald eagle flew in and finished off her leftovers once the bear moved off. A third bear also came downstream on the far side of the river. I believe this was the same dark, almost black grizzly that we saw on our first bear sighting, which I think is named Lulu. If so, she is Speedy’s cub from 2016. She did not stay around but climbed the bank and took off toward the mouth of the river. Neither Randy nor I had worn a jacket so we were getting cold so it was time to head back for the night.
On our last day in Haines, the Wagon Master and Tail Gunners provided a wonderful pancake breakfast. After breakfast we went to the Hammer Museum to get our scavenger photo and a tour of the museum. Before the tour, Randy thought he had a unique hammer that would not be in the museum, but was surprised by many similar hammers. After lunch Randy and a few of the other caravan members were supposed to go halibut and/or rock fishing but the boat had mechanical issues so his fishing trip was cancelled again. I know he is very disappointed that two of the fishing trips have been cancelled. I am glad he got to go at least one time to get us some salmon, but I was really looking forward to some more rock fish or some halibut.
The stay in Haines would not be complete without another trip to the Chilkoot State Park area for another, final look at the bears. Several caravan members were there too, including Ricky and Debbie. It didn’t take long before we spotted the first bear slowly making her way down on the far side of the stream, heading to the bridge. Some idiot was flying a drone and spooked her so she took off up into the trees for a short time. When she came back to the stream you could tell she was still spooked. Instead of following the stream under the bridge that all of the bears have been doing, she climbed the bank and crossed the road at the end of the bridge. I didn’t like her being up on my level so I backed off to near the end of the bridge on the opposite side but most everyone else just stayed where they were; including Randy. She crossed the road and took off to the tidal marsh area. After she took off almost everyone left but we decided to stay. We were rewarded because it wasn’t long before another bear came down our side of the stream. She crossed under the bridge below us, continuing her pursuit of salmon.
During the night Ricky came by and knocked on the RV so that we could see the Northern Lights. They were very faint but at least I got my first glimpse of the lights.
I thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Haines. There were bald eagles everywhere and being able to view the bears up close from the relative safety of the bridge was awesome. Add in all of the wildlife we saw on the shuttle coming back from Juneau helped make this stop the highlight of my trip.