Haines, Alaska

Haines, Alaska

Almost half the days of the year, Haines receives precipitation of some sort. Imagine our surprise to find a sunny day on our arrival. Normally we are not that fortunate. 

Haines is a working town with about 1,700 year-round residents. The town is sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and Canada, although it has substantially more geography than Hyder. It is accessible by marine ferry or traveling through Canada. 

Town of Haines, Alaska

One of the major draws for Haines is their fishing weir…and salmon fishing. Locals have set up a weir station to make a daily count of the salmon migrating upstream to Chilkoot Lake to spawn. (The salmon journey from the Pacific, up the Chilcoot River, and into Chilkoot Lake and its tributaries upstream.) Local brown bears often fish the weir, making it a wonderful photographic opportunity. 

Fishing weir in Haines, Alaska

We quickly learned that the salmon are slow to spawn this year, so we found no bears at the weir. The morning after our arrival, however, we did spy a set of triplets on the flats between the Chilcoot River and the sea. They looked to be freshly jettisoned from their mother. They were probably two or more years old. They looked like they were having the time of their lives, frolicking on the flats. 

Brown bear... one of triplets... Haines, Alaska

When checking for new emails with the library’s Wi-Fi, we noticed a larger number of people in Haines than normal. We asked at the visitor center and discovered the Southeast Alaska state fair would begin on Thursday.  As a result, yet another favorite restaurant, The Bamboo Room, was closed for maintenance. Bummer. 

We drove to Chilkat State Park to see if we could find any eagles. Haines is known as one of the major eagle refuge areas in the world and is a prime winter migration habitat. Chilkat State Park and Mud Bay have long been a favorite spot of ours, as we have always found eagles there. Thankfully, we quickly spied an eagle perched on a log pole near the boat launch, eyeing his territory. He allowed me to steadily walk much closer than expected for a photograph. 

Eagle, Mud Bay, near Haines, Alaska

It rained hard during our second night’s stay. When we awoke, clouds laid their heads on the ground, veiling all the mountains. 

Rainy morning in Haines, Alaska

With rain in the forecast, the lack of bears to photograph, and the state fair participants filling all the campgrounds, it seemed to be telling us that it was time to go. We feel pushed to move on… for whatever reason. 

As we left Haines, we spied a pair of swans and their cygnets. It felt like a beautiful omen of things to come. Onward to mainland Alaska. 

Swan near Haines, Alaska