Day 45 -- Fast skip through Canada to reach Haines, AK

Travel   From: Alcan, AK   To: Haines, AK   Distance: 369 mi (593 km)   Travel time w/brks: 8 hr 33   Distance since start: 9,478 mi (15,241 km)

Friday 8/4/2006

Today's journey was mainly to reach Haines by cutting through Canada (Yukon and British Columbia). After we got up, we dumped and headed south. It did not take long until we crossed the US side of the border. The Canadian border station is an additional 20 miles down the road in the town of Beaver Creek. Our crossing was swift and before we knew it we were on our way heading south in Yukon. We touched one Canadian park, which we think is named Kluane, a few times. At one point we went through a road construction there. We were held up for a while, waiting for a pilot car. At this construction site they were using large trucks to move earth and gravel. As we were last in the convoy, one of those large trucks followed us for a while. They are quite impressive in size.

Keep up or get crushed :-)

One of those trucks passing the camping trailer in front of us; look at the size of its tires...

After some driving we reached a point where we took a lunch break. We cooked soup for lunch.

Lunch break just before Haines Junction, Yukon Territory

The rest of the road through Yukon and British Columbia might have been nicer if the weather was a bit better. I decided to not purchase diesel in Haines Junction but instead to head for Haines, betting on less expensive fuel there. A little while later we hit some major hills and the fuel consumption went way down. At that point I started to wonder about the odds of making it. We had been warned about a stretch of about 204Km without any service stations south of Haines Junction. In the end we made it. The US border crossing is after a long down hill. We wondered how many people have just blown by it without being able to stop?

Soon after we reached Haines we realized that it was not much of a town. There were a few RV parks in town, all of which appeared to pack their customers tight on gravel. We bought fuel and were rewarded by a fuel price as bad as in Canada. While there, we asked about places to camp and were recommended to stay at the Chilkoot Lake State Park, about 8 miles outside of town. We made a quick stop in town to buy food enough so that we could reach Juneau. After that we headed for the state park, hoping for a site. As it turns out, they had a few sites left. They were all boon docking sites and they were very good. Only $10/night. It was a bit tight to get in with the 31ft, but we made it.

Our nice $10 campsite at Chilkoot Lake SP, just outside of Haines, AK

One of the appeals of this campground, to the kids, was the proximity to fishing. A river runs out from the lake into the waters around Haines. Salmon runs up from Haines towards the lake. Even with the overcast and drizzle we had it looked very nice. We could imagine it must be even better if the weather was nice. Soon after we had parked the kids wanted to get down into the river and fish. I gave them a ride. We could hear bald eagles calling in the trees around the river. Local fishermen indicated that there were a few in the trees by the river, looking to catch something.

The kids get out into the river to fish for salmon

The kids in the river; camera facing up river towards the "fish-counters" and the lake

While the kids were out fishing, I went to the ferry terminal to work out our checkin, get tickets, etc. When they heard we had kids that were interested in fishing, they suggested we should come a little bit later for staging so that the kids could do some additional fishing in the morning. When I got back to the river, there were lots of cars there and people stood out with their cameras. It turns out the kids, and some other fishermen, had been asked to leave the river after a grizzly mother and her cub had wandered in to do some snagging of their own. The bears came within less than 100ft of the kids at first

One of the grizzlies wander around where the kids stood earlier, with the kids standing ashore and watching

We all stood and watched them for a while. The Park Ranger made sure we all kept a reasonable distance (40-70ft). We could see the mother bear skillfully snag one fish after the other. She just walked around in the river, looking down, and lifted them up with her claws. The kids were very impressed. It was hard to take pictures, since we had reached twilight with overcast. We were too far away to use a flash, yet it was difficult to hold the camera steady without a flash or tripod. After this encounter, we went back to the trailer and ate dinner. We had the heat on in the trailer and it felt good. The kids were bubbling with excitement from the close bear encounter. It was more personal and it topped the excitement of seeing bears from the bus window during the Denali bus trip out the Wonder Lake.

Campground   Name: Chilkoot Lake SP, Haines, AK   Our hookups: None   WiFi: No   GSM service: No   TV Channels: Don't know   Cost: $10/night   Reservation mode: Drop in

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All Pictures (c) 2006 Hamnqvist, Background features some fresh bear poop along the Chilkoot River.