Terra Firma… our arrival in Haines

The Fair Weather is a pontoon ferry, capable of moving much faster than the Matanuska.  In fact, it skims on the water at twice the speed, reducing the sail from Juneau to Haines from six hours to three.  We had to be at the Juneau ferry terminal by 6:00 in the morning to make the 8:00 sail.  Although gray clouds lingered and hung heavy over the mountaintops, we were grateful that it was not raining. 

Haines, Alaska

Our arrival in Haines meant that we were on terra firma.  Our voyage up the inside passage was now finished… at least for this trip.  We were happy to once again be on our own time rather than the ferry schedule.  Our main goal now is to arrive in Anchorage in plenty of time to pick up our young friend, Morgan.  Morgan is a 13-year-old friend of ours.  We have known her since she was two.  She wanted an adventure, and we were more than happy to share ours with her.  In fact, we are quite excited about the opportunity. 

Our only concern had become Morgan’s mobility.  Three weeks ago she broke her ankle when a friend collided with her on a trampoline.  Her mom had reported that the cast was scheduled to come off the day before Morgan arrived in Anchorage.  She would need to be on crutches the first week and in an air cast/boot the entire trip.  While some of our longer hikes would need to be curtailed, Morgan is the kind of kid to rise to a challenge.  We just wanted to make sure she healed completely and wasn’t uncomfortable.

With nine days between us and our picking Morgan up at the airport, we decided to spend a few days in Haines.  We have visited Haines on several occasions, but our focus has always been photographing the bears fishing salmon from the weir.  This trip, however, we are much too early for the salmon run.  In fact the day’s count of salmon was one, and only a count of 94 for the entire month.  Normally salmon don’t begin running in earnest until mid-July.

All the locals told us we would see no bears during this visit.  A mother bear, thankfully, took exception to their dismal reports.  We were delighted to see the sow and her triplets, grazing across the riverbank that evening. 

The Chilkoot river and lake were at record high levels because of the recent rain and heavy snow melt.  As we strolled lakeside that evening, we watched a mother Mersanger teach her chicks to navigate the breakwaters between the lake and fast-running river.  In calm waters, the chicks would tag along closely behind her.  When the current became too fast, they would quickly climb on her back.  Although she was much too far away to get a good photograph, hopefully these shots will give you an idea of how sweet it was to watch them:

Mother Mersanger and chicks

Mother Mersanger with chicks on her back

The next morning, we took showers and did laundry at our favorite Moose Horn Laundromat so that we would be clean for church on Sunday.  Later, we drove out to some of our favorite places and strolled around Fort Seward.

After church, we took a hike.  The wind was blowing strongly as we wound our way through the dense trees.  It felt like we were in the Lord of the Rings’ Fanghorn Forest with limbs creaking and trunks groaning as they rubbed against one another.  At one point, a dead tree snapped very close to us, startling us both.  Finally we reached a break in the forest to catch a glimpse of Rainbow Glacier.  It was getting late and the clouds were darkening, so we turned back to return to camp.

Rainbow Glacier near Haines, Alaska

Our new credit cards were due to arrive no later than Monday.  After spending a slow-paced morning in camp, we visited The American Bald Eagle Preservation Foundation, learning more about these magnificent birds.  We checked again at the post office just before closing time, but the credit cards had still not arrived.  Ready to move on, we called Chase and asked that they be re-sent to Anchorage.

Resident eagles at The American Bald Eagle Preservation Foundation, Haines, Alaska

Tuesday morning, we spied a young brown bear along the roadside just outside of Haines.  Later we saw a pair of swans with three young chicks.  Past Haines Junction, a moose grazed along the hillside.  We were in familiar territory again… on a road we had traveled at least a half-dozen times.  It was great to know we could drive as far as we wanted to now that we were on terra firma.  We camped at Congdon Campground.  Our plans were to stop in Tok tomorrow to re-provision before returning to one of our favorite places… the Nebesna Road in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.