AK -- Haines, 14-25 May 2018

8 planned days in Haines, Alaska plus 3 unplanned days…

Why we came…

It’s where we got off the ferry and it’s incredible!

Haines, Alaska and the Chilkat Range

The campground…

Oceanside RV Park is great when it’s mostly empty.  It sits right on the water and has incredible views.  Unfortunately the sites are very close.  We measured them to be about 15 and a half feet wide.  (With our slides and steps out, we are about 14 feet wide.)  If you have slides and your neighbor has slides, you’ll only be separated by about 3 feet of space.  If you don’t have neighbors, it’s hard to beat! The sites were fairly level, packed crushed rock.   There are plans to expand the sites.  If that happens, Oceanside RV Park in Haines, would be one of the best places to RV camp in Alaska!

We had full hook-ups, a very slow Verizon cell signal, and paid extra for decent wi-fi.  Initially we walked to the library a few times for wi-fi.  We could not get our DirecTV satellite to work.  Alaska’s high latitude means a low angle for the satellite dish.  A little on-line research shows that many RV’ers have trouble getting their satellite to work.  There were two fairly new washers and dryers, though they were expensive: $3 to wash and $1.50 to dry. 

Oceanside RV Park and the glacier covered Chilkat Range in Haines, Alaska

This was just a portion of our incredible view

How it looked from the water. No neighbors, fantastic views, and perfect weather…PARADISE!

There are other campgrounds in the area.  Haines Hitch-Up RV Park has full hook-ups and Salmon Run has water and electric.  Plus there are a couple of state park campgrounds that can handle fairly large rigs but they don’t have any hook-ups.  There are also road pull-outs with incredible views that are free and don’t have any hook-ups or outhouses.

Nearby towns…

Haines, Alaska, population ~1,700 and elevation 36 feet, is quaint, friendly, and picturesque.  It bills itself as “the Adventure Capital of Alaska”.  The hiking, fishing, hunting, rafting, and snow sports are some of the best found anywhere.  There are a few restaurants, shops, and three small grocery stores.  Haines is also known for its eagles.  The area is home to 200 – 400 eagles year-round.  As salmon flood the Ckilkat Valley each fall, over 3,000 eagles gather for the feast. 

Haines sees far less cruise ship traffic than its neighbor, Skagway.  During our 11 day stay, 3 or 4 small ships and two big ones docked in Haines for the day.  It was a little overwhelming when 3,000 people temporarily flooded the quiet little town.  It also brought the already slow cell phone service to a stop. 

We really enjoyed walking around Haines.  We regularly strolled from the campground, along the harbor, to the ferry dock, then through historic Fort Seward, and back.  We always saw eagles and were constantly blown away by the incredible scenery.

We really liked Haines!  We could spend a considerable amount of time there.

The harbor

Once a week a large cruise ship spends a day docked in Haines.  3,000 people flooded the little town.

Fort Seward was built in 1904

   

Evidence of Tlingits in the Chilkat Valley dates back over 2,000 years

Skagway, Alaska, population ~1,100 and elevation 33 feet, is a 45 minute ferry ride to the north.  It played a key role in the Klondike Gold Rush and centers much of its tourism around that now.  Though it’s smaller than Haines, it is more suited to the cruise ship industry.  There’s a decent selection of restaurants and shops. We were surprised to see a jewelry store on seemingly every block.  There are also fleets of sight-seeing helicopters and busses.  All this does a decent job of entertaining an estimated 900,000 visitors each summer. 2-5 cruise ships are docked each day during the summer with the average cruise ship having 3,000 passengers.  There were two large cruise ships in port during our visit and people were scattered all over.  The small town felt like a busy ant colony.

The main supply and service centers in the area are Juneau, Alaska, a four and half hour ferry ride from Haines, and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, a five hour drive that’s 250 miles to the north.

Adventures…

Walks around town…

Haines is very pleasant and we enjoyed walking a two mile circuit around town each day to check out what was happening in the marina and stopping in little shops, the library, and the three different grocery stores.

On our first full day in town, we took extra time to walk around and familiarize ourselves with what would be our home for the next week.

We started at the fairly new City Public Library. The librarians are very receptive to visitors and set us up with free wi-fi so we could send out the blog.

Next, we visited Alaska Backcountry Outfitter for kayak advice and the Visitor Center for hiking advice. At both places we found Haine-zites who were welcoming and eagerly shared information about their outdoor paradise.

Then we ambled down Haines Highway Cutoff a ½ mile to the other main campground in town, Haines Hitch-Up RV Park. We love the view at Oceanside but the sites are so tight. Sadly, Hitch-up is seasonal and will be closed by September 15^th, before we return in the fall.

Next, we stopped at the local health food store, Mountain Market & Café. Given that we are in Alaska, they have a surprising variety of products and the prices were reasonable. Plus, their homemade pumpkin cookies were delicious.

We continued our tour of Haines to the American Bald Eagle Foundation center. “The mission of the American Bald Eagle Foundation is the conservation of the Bald Eagle & its habitat through education and stewardship.” It is fitting that a town that is geographically next to the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve has such a center.

“Haines, Alaska is known as the Valley of the Eagles for a good reason- the largest concentration of bald eagles in the United States happens right here each November! A late run of chum and Coho salmon that occurs each November attracts between two and four thousand bald eagles each year!” We hope that they will have started to congregate when we return in late September.

Local resident Dave Olerud founded the eagle foundation in 1982. They started the construction of the impressive natural history museum in 1987. It is a diorama with all animals from water, land, and air that you find in Chilkat Valley. The public opening was in 1994.

“In 2010, a raptor center was added. The raptor center has twelve resident avian ambassadors who help teach the public about their unique species.” They’re currently starting construction on a free-flight space area. We felt good about paying our $12 entry fee to support this goal and the rehabilitation of these remarkable raptors.

We have both always been fascinated with birds of prey so it was cool to see them so close. However, as with all animals, it is more exhilarating to see them in their own environment.

We were very impressed with an Eurasian eagle owl. He caught both of our eyes with his intense orange stare.

   

Walk route around Haines  /  Wind-whipped flags and the Chilkat Range

   

Some of Haines’ character

   

The American Bald Eagle Association had impressive and informative dioramas

Hike on the Battery Point Trail…

By that evening, the few clouds that had been hanging out all day had lifted. We were both eager to find a spot with a good view. Thanks to the kind and knowledgeable folks at the visitor center, we knew that Battery Point was such a spot.

We drove southeast on Beach Road two miles till it dead-ended. There is a turnaround and a parking area for a few cars.

The trail starts in a spruce/cedar forest with a carpet of moss and ferns. It rolls up and down a bit but is in great shape. It gets a lot of love. There was boardwalk anywhere there was potential for the trail to be swampy. Plus, there were wooden steps built into the glacial till.

After about a mile, we popped out onto a beach area. There a man was playing fetch with a lab. The lab spied us and brought me the stick which I gladly threw for him a few times. Other folks were out jogging with their dogs. We could tell this trail was a local’s favorite.

It was getting late so we only went as far as Kelgaya point. We had epic views across the Chilkoot Inlet to glaciers and snowcapped peaks. There was a sail boat and the cruise ship Celebrity Solstice plying the flat waters of Lynn Canal. The winds were calm and we had clear blue skies above us. The setting sun touched off the perfect ambient light. We were in paradise sitting out on that rocky point. Alaska we have arrived!

   

Hike route to Kelgaya Point in Chilkat State Park

   

Traversing a small stream.  The steps were a pleasant surprise.  /  The view from Kelgaya Point of  the Chilkoot Inlet and the Coast Mountains

Kayak adventure in Chilkat Inlet…

We drove almost 10 miles on Mud Bay Road to Chilkat State Park. The goal was to go on a kayaking adventure around Kochu Island. Unfortunately, the winds were blowing 15 to 25 knots when we arrived. In addition there were already good sized swells that had formed.

Sadly, otherwise it was a fairly calm day. In fact, it would be the best day all week. However, winds in the fjords can get whipped up by cold air coming off glaciers. Then the sea breeze kicks in and combats with these. The result can be really erratic gusty winds. We knew intuitively that we would probably limit our paddle but we had to get our kayaks wet in Alaska waters!

We got the kayaks off the truck and set them down on the boat ramp with just their noses in the water. We took 10 minutes to park the truck and to put on our wading boots and socks. By the time we got back, the kayaks had floated off! 

It was a non-subtle reminder of how suddenly the tides can change in Alaska. Fortunately, the kayaks were still against the rocks and I was able to run and grab them. The day’s tides were a low of -4 feet and a high of +19 feet. That’s a huge difference.

With the kayaks corralled, we jumped in and paddled north of the point. As expected we hit good sized swells once we were past the protection of Lehunua Island. But we had great views of Rainbow and Davidson glaciers.

While we were admiring the glacier’s colors Arleen heard and then spied the telltale spout and noise. Was it a whale or was it a porpoise? The large fluke rising out of the water was obviously a whale!

It was about a quarter of a mile away, about the same distance that we had seen them from the ferry. However, it looked huge while sitting in our tiny kayaks. As we bobbed in the choppy waves and got pushed around by the winds, we saw it rise and spout once more. Then we took a break on the island hoping to spot it again. It disappeared but we were thankful for the special encounter.

   

Kayak route in Chilkat Inlet.  The wind and waves were a bit much so we didn’t go far.  /  Rainbow Glacier

It’s a spectacular place!  Getting a selfie in the kayaks is tough.  I have just 30 seconds to hop in, get in position, and pose.

This whale surfaced a couple of hundred yards from us.  It made us feel small in our kayaks!

Trip to Skagway…

We took the Haines Skagway Fast Ferry to Skagway. Their schedule is very inconsistent. Some days there are not any runs and other days they run from early in the morning till late at night. It seems to correlate to the number of large cruise boats in Skagway.

We scheduled a 09:00L departure from Haines which put us into Skagway at 09:45 with the latest departure from Skagway at 14:00. So we had just over 4 hours in Skagway but that was the best we could do that week.

The Fast Ferry is a very scenic run! We had a great view of waterfalls and glaciers, like the Harding glacier. The captain pointed out things for us along the way.

As we pulled into Skagway, the dominant feature was two large cruise ships and the swarms of people. But once we walked past the marina, we could see the charm of Skagway with its White Pass and Yukon Railroad station and its colorfully maintained late 19^th century store fronts with the spectacular mountainous backdrop.

First, we walked past the airport out to the Yakutania Point Park where we had a great view of the scenery surrounding Taiya Inlet. We nearly had the point to ourselves…it was very pleasant.

Next, we wandered back into town and checked out several historical buildings from the time of the Klondike Gold Rush. One such building was the Smith parlor, Soapy Smith’s bar, where he either ripped off miners or was a generous philanthropist.

We walked down Broadway Street till we got down near Seventh Street and the infamous red light district. We had a tasty lunch at Olivia’s Bistro. The weather was so nice we sat outside. Arleen had a halibut pastry and I had beer-battered halibut. We shared a rhubarb crisp for a chaser. It was perfect for our first Alaskan meal out in many years!

Finally we stopped at the Klondike Gold Rush visitor center where Arleen got her stamp and we watched the National Park movie. Arleen visited Skagway 16 years ago and the memories came flooding back. She and her friend Heidi hiked the entire 33 mile Chilkoot Trail in four days. It was not easy but not nearly as tough as it was for the miners who were required to take 2,000 pounds of supplies up the infamous Golden Stairs.

Compared to Haines, Skagway had a lot more people milling about. It has shops targeted at the higher end tourists such as about a DOZEN jewelry stores! It just made us appreciate how quiet and laid-back little Haines is.

The weather was still perfect during our ride back on the Fast Ferry. The narrow fjord with its turquoise colored water, snow and glacier covered mountains, and waterfalls were the epitome of Alaska. It was a fantastic day!

   

Ferry route between Haines and Skagway  /  Arleen got another National Park passport stamp.  National Park Rangers lead tours around the historic town and through some restored buildings.

A few miles from Skagway

Closer to Skagway.  Note the two large cruise ships at port.

The Skagway harbor

   

We got off the ferry and immediately hiked out to Kakutania Point  /  Posing on the point

   

The Skagway air strip.  Like many Alaska towns, there isn’t much room for error.  /  A busy fleet of helicopters taking cruise boat tourists on scenic flights

   

Skagway now and then

       

Map of Klondike Gold Rush routes  /  Two views of the Golden Stairs.  These guys were required to haul a year’s worth of supplies over the trail.  Many of them climbed the Golden Stairs 40 or 50 times! (Click any picture for a better view)

   

Soapy Smith was a colorful character that played a prominent role in the town’s history.  He was considered a hero by some and a villain by others.

Mount Ripinsky…

We set off early to climb Mount Ripinsky. The goal was to climb about 3,000 feet over 3.5 miles. That was not the top of the 3,690 foot mountain but just below and above the tree line where we would have a great view.

We started at the Skyline Trailhead at the end of Young Road. The first couple hundred yards was on the powerline trail. Then we cut up into the deep dark hemlock and spruce woods with a carpet of moss covering glacial rocks.

The trail immediately pitched up. Over the first mile there were sections of boardwalk built of pressurized wood with overlaid roof tiles for traction. This section gets a lot of love!

The well maintained trail gave us false hope. It wasn’t long until there were a lot of rocks, mud bogs, and roots… lots of big roots! We passed a sign that indicated a viewpoint was 3/4 of a mile off the main trail. That segment went off towards the cell phone tower. I couldn’t see much of a viewpoint on satellite so we continued up the ridge trail.

Then it got to the point where we were climbing over eight foot high glacial boulders on all fours. We finally called it too tough and turned around. We had only climbed to 1,650 feet, 1,350 feet short of our goal.

We backtracked and took the cut-off towards the tower. Disappointingly, the trees have grown up around the cell phone tower and there is no longer much of a view.

However, we did climb the stairs to the top of the backup generator and had a bit of a view from there.

As we were walking back down the trail, I might have seen a lynx. It was silent and quickly disappeared, living up to its “ghost cat” nickname. Also, there were fresh moose poop and hooves prints in various places along the muddy trail. We heard the deep “thump, thump” of a male grouse calling for a mate.

We did not reach our goal but we got a good workout and it was still a good day!

   

Hike route up Mount Ripinsky

       

There are stairs and boardwalks the first half mile and then it’s mostly rocks and roots

The view at our turn-around spot.  The trail was too challenging.  We only made it to 1,650 feet elevation.  Our goal was 3,000 feet.

   

We like these moss covered forests  /  This memorial is near the antenna tower

Mount Riley…

We wanted to get a good view of Lynn Canal and the surrounding mountains. So we set off with the goal of climbing Mount Riley which was a more reasonable goal then the day before.

There are three trails up Mount Riley. We took the trailhead from Mud Bay Road. It takes nearly three miles to climb to the top of 1,760 foot high Mount Riley.

After the failure the day before there was no way we were going to stop short of our goal. Thankfully most of the deep muddy bogs along the first half mile of trail had board walks across them. We met a few other hikers who raved about the view from the top. We kicked it into another gear and finally started up the switchbacks.

First, the switchbacks were nice pleasant needle strewn trails. Then they turned gnarly with roots and rocks similar to yesterday but not as bad.

At the top of a ridge there was a long boardwalk across some grassy bogs. We were glad to have partial views. That encouraged us and we eagerly climbed the final quarter mile.

The last section was very rocky but we were rewarded with epic 360° views. We could see all of Lynn Canal now which is the longest and deepest fjord in the United States. We even saw a bit of Skagway. Then we noticed the Elred Lighthouse! We also saw why Mud Bay is called “mud”. The tide had drained out ¾ of it.

We sat up there for over an hour admiring the grandeur. We watched as two eagles soared above us. It appeared that they were going to lock talons in midair to mate. But she played hard to get and they gradually flew out of our sight.

We reluctantly headed down, mostly because both of our knees were stiff and we knew it would be difficult to descend the 1700 feet.

All the way up we had seen huge piles of moose poop. The Yukon moose are bigger and lighter colored than the Shiras moose in the Lower 48 and their poop matches their size! About halfway down the trail with Arleen in front of me, I told her to stop. I had spotted one of the big gangly guys!

The moose was walking right along the trail. He stopped at one point and stared back at us. This always makes me nervous because they have quick tempers and can move so quickly through dense cover. We moved very slowly and finally he moved off the trail. He disappeared over a little knoll and we didn’t see him again.

   

Hike route up Mount Riley

   

Not more roots!  /  Nearing the top

Looking west towards the Chilkat Inlet and Range

Looking northwest towards Haines.  Chilkat Inlet is on the left and Chilkoot Inlet is on the right.

Looking northwest.  Chilkoot Inlet is on the left and Tayai Inlet is on the right.  Skagway is near the head of Tayai Inlet.

The bears…

The plan had been to kayak Chilkoot Lake in the morning before afternoon rains moved in. However, when we were awoken by rain tapping our roof at 4am, we knew the forecast was off and our plans would change. It would rain on and off with cloudy skies for the next 72 hours and dump 2” of precip.

That evening there was a break in the rain. So we drove out to have a look at Chilkoot Lake. The lake is 10 miles out of Haines on the Lutak Road.

We had heard rumors of a bear and her cubs hanging out along the Chilkoot River. Sure enough, there on the other side of the river, we spotted the Brown Bear sow and her two cubs!

We spent about a half hour watching the cubs wrestle and play while Mom forged for food. At times they were down in the river splashing around.

We could not hit the shutters on our camera fast enough to try and capture their antics. Eventually, they moved back into the brush and quickly disappeared. It was an amazing experience that we will remember for a long time.

During our first week in Alaska we had seen bears, a moose, a lynx, a whale, and many eagles. It was a great start!

We watched this momma bear and her two cubs play along the Chilkoot River for about 30 minutes

   

Momma has some impressive claws  /  We loved watching the youngsters wrestle

   

   

They look so cuddly you want to join them!

Delay…

Our big Dodge truck’s brake got very mushy a couple of times. I asked the mechanic at the automotive shop collocated with the campground to take a look. He found a hose and a coupling that were failing. We could lose both our automatic steering and the brakes. It had to be repaired.

Remote Alaska villages do not have tons of parts on hand. We had to wait two days for the part to be flown in from Juneau.

We were happy to be “stuck” in Haines, Alaska!

Next…

We made quick stops near Destruction Bay YT and Tok AK.  Now we are in Fairbanks AK.  Our next stops are Cantwell and Willow.

Parting shots…

   

Yes, things are expensive in Alaska.  (Click the pic for a better view.) /  Puckering up for a moose kiss

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