June 4, 2024 Tuesday

June 4, 2024 Juneau, AK to Haines, Ak 4 hours, 68 nautical miles. Haines, Ak to Haines Junction, Yukon Territory.  Time zones in one day, AK Time, British Columbia Time and Yukon Territory Time.

Day 10 We awake at 3:30AM to ready for the leaving the ferry at 4:15AM, landing in Haines.  The sun is rising in the east and it is daylight.  We are surprised by how quickly they get the seemingly tangled web of vehicles off the ferry without damage.  It’s cloudy and 50 degrees but dry.  We spend some time in the parking lot adjusting our packing in order to finish the driving portion of the trip.  We watch the ferry in the distance crossing over to Skagway.  The mountains dwarf it, looks like a toy.  Waterfalls coming down.  We are very familiar with Haines with several visits there.  It sits at the end of Lynn Canal just across the water from Skagway.  Surrounded by high mountain peaks, many still snow covered.  We drive down to the Chilkoot River to see if any bears are feeding, none are there, apparently fish aren’t up this far at this time.  We drive around town but very quiet; there are no stoplights.  There are hidden gems of small local businesses, eagle rescue, galleries and nice library. The are a number of totems around the area and the WWII Halford Fort buildings that we love. We had dinner in one of them a long time ago. Might stay at the hotel and or go to the restaurant sometime.  We have tended to stay at the very nice Aspen Inn on Main Street. 

Haines has kept their Main Street quaint and pioneer atmosphere (another way of saying much aged).  The shops are locally owned and each has unique offerings.  The port is not deep so it seems only smaller cruise ships can get in.  Compared to the other South East communities that have invited thousands of visitors in a day off large cruise ships, Haines and a few of the other communities have opted not to.  The media reports that Sitka and Juneau residents like the tourist dollars but are learning the impact on their towns and daily lives.  There is more crime than in the past that they must contend with.  The little coffee shop on Main Street opens at 6AM and ferry people fill it up (aka old retired men).  And then the locals fall in.  Modest on the outside but very pleasant with a modern vibe on the inside.  A wide range of coffee and hot beverage choices and small but good quality menu items.  We walk around downtown looking in the windows wishing the shops were open!  We head out of town following the famous Chilkat River, known from gold mining days and largest annual gathering of eagles coming for the fish.  The land is very lush with late spring growth. The Chilkat is so high it borders the road.  The mountains are shrouded in thick clouds that part temporarily for brief views of high snow-covered peaks.  It begins to rain heavily.  At the Canadian Border we are behind 5 retired bikers (US citizens) who were on the ferry.  We don’t know what was going on but the agents were requiring them to bring folders of documents into their station.  We saw they had passports.  It held us up about 45 minutes while we watched this unfold; we got through in 10 minutes.  We’re guessing there were carrying loaded weapons and had to do the dance to get through customs into Canada.   We enter BC and time zone.  Our travel took us into the higher elevation moving to the pass at 3600+ feet.  Luckily, we have seen this area clear in the past and it is spectacular, today it’s heavy cloud cover.  Today we moved above tree line into lichen covered areas.  We have snow on either side of the road and with the rain and heavy clouds we watched the temperature carefully, having been through snow last year.  But we stayed around mid-40’s and rain.  This area was still in late winter, nothing green, creeks were running but ponds were frozen. There was sign of beavers in the area.  This region is in some of the highest mountains in Ak and Canada, home of still growing glaciers.  We descend into early spring where vegetation becomes lush and the neon spring green in the Aspen and Birch trees seem to make their own light.  We pass by a porcupine (somewhat rare) but we have seen bear scat on the road so they’re awake.  No sign of moose but there’s some great browse ready for them. We stop at Lake Katherine, a beautiful glacier lake that is usually so windy you have to hang on.  Very still today but swarms of mosquitos are coming to get us.

We arrive in Haines Junction in the rain.  We discover a funky café/bakery buried off the main road in a neighborhood.  The menu is excellent for late breakfast/early lunch and specialty coffee drinks.  A log cabin with large deck and small house off to the side with indoor tables and wood fire.  They are playing Bob Marley music.  We stop at the Green Apple Grocery.  A tiny little place that has always been closed in the past before we could get there. The only grocery in the area.  Prices are high but it is in Canadian; the exchange rate is on our side.  Across the road is the Native Culture Center and the National Parks office.  We have visited here several times and love the place.  Canadians are generally very nice people who are courteous and helpful.  In the Native Culture Center, we meet up with the elderly woman who is always there.  She is a hoot and training a new person.  The newbie tells of learning the native language late in life and her experience with learning native art and craft.  They give us a free calendar from the collection.  We promised to visit them on the way home.  Love the national park displays, always very well done and watched a movie on what to do in bear encounters.  We decided their practical tips only work if we haven’t fainted or had bear spray blow back in our faces, marinating ourselves for a bear feast.  The huge installation of hanging clear plastic native masks remain a favorite.

We check into the ALCAN on the second floor, no elevator, we have stayed here before.  The room is large with nice amenities and clean.  We have our view of the mountains across the way.  It’s rainy heavily again and temps are dropping.  We won’t get much darkness this far north.  Hot showers and take out soup from the café.  Catching up on blog.  Tomorrow promises sun but winds.  Anchorage had a hard winter and May snow, anticipate a cool summer.