Haines, Alaska

Rain continues to follow us.  With forecasts of continued rain in any direction that we travel, we opted for Haines.  Haines is another port site on the Alaskan Marine Highway, so we had no idea what to expect.  Last year, the town of Skagway was replete with cruise ships and tourists.  It seemed almost scary busy after weeks of being out in the bush.  And, well, you already know about our Hyder experience.

Since it appears that we are at least a week too early for the Dempster, Haines beckoned, particularly with the promise of an eagle sanctuary and a possibility of viewing bears fishing the weir along Chilkat River.

We made Haines Junction by mid-day and determined to camp at the Million Dollar Falls Yukon government camp.  The site was extremely remote, so we tested out the electric bear fence for the first time.  It was a hoot just watching David with instructions in hand, setting up our “home security” system.

David awakened in the middle of the night, feeling sure that some hooved animals breached the fence.  Rox and I slept through the whole thing.

The next morning, we drove through alpine tundra and sharp mountains, all mysteriously cloaked in a misty fog.  In areas along the highest summits, visibility dropped to only several car lengths.  We stopped for road repairs and several pilot car escorts before arriving at US customs. 

How wonderful it was to be back in the States again!  We quickly realized that we not only had cell service but also no roaming fees.  We set up outside the visitor’s center and called to see how David’s brother is doing.  Paul is in the middle of his second round of cancer treatment.  We were delighted to learn that he would be released from the hospital within a few days. 

Unfortunately, Internet service was impossible to come by in Haines, so we’re waiting to upload this post.  It seems that we either have cell or Internet service or neither on this trip. 

We camped at a remote state park called Chilkat; a beautiful park nestled among tight groves of aspens.  The campground host told us that while they had moose, the Chilkoot Lake State Park on the other side of town had bears.  He recommended that we visit and told us that every time he had gone, he had seen bears.

Our first visit offered no bears, just busloads of tourists from the cruise ship.  We learned that unlike Skagway, Haines only had cruise ships docking on Wednesdays.  Just our luck that we arrived on a Tuesday evening!

We returned to our campground and decided to drive down to the boat launch, just in case any moose were hanging around, wanting to be photographed.  While there were no moose, we spied a bald eagle hopping around the shoreline at some distance.  It seemed as if he were dancing a bit of a jig, then he would disappear behind some marsh grasses before he jumped again.

David watched the eagle through his binoculars, while I watched through the big lens.  Suddenly, the eagle took off, barely skimming the water.  I started shooting.  While the results are less than stellar, it is easy to see that he had been beheading a large fish on the shoreline.  He landed on the pillar and called to his sweetheart.  They soon flew off together and enjoyed their evening supper in a nest of pine branches.

After a trip back to the weir the next morning to see bears (again with no luck), we found a Laundromat with great showers the next day and did some much-needed “freshening.”  A trip up to the eagle sanctuary offered a few photo ops amidst intermittent rain, but nothing spectacular.  We did speak with a lovely young woman from Ontario who had just come down from the Dempster.  She said that in about five days, we should hit peak color.  We were excited at the prospect.

That evening, we decided to take one more waltz down to the Chilkoot weir.  We immediately spied “Speedy and the twins,” a mother bear with year-old twin cubs.  We watched them across the river for some time before they disappeared.  David and I decided to set up by the weir, just in case Speedy tried there next.  I set up near some professional photographers who were funny and kind and helpful.

Soon, “Mama and the triplets” arrived at the weir.  Her cubs were over a year old, so Mama rested under a grove of trees while the trips fished.  It was fascinating to watch them.

After a time, Speedy and the twins arrived on the opposite bank, about fifty feet from us.  We were mesmerized, watching them fish.  Then another busload of tourists arrived. 

I was at the edge of the riverbank, just above a steep drop off, leaning against a pine and shooting photos.  The tourists began crowding around us.  One jumped down next to me, using my shoulder as his anchor, nearly pushing me into the river in the process.  I hurled around, trying to find solid ground, looking for David.  The man apologized and said that everything was fine.  Not so for me.  There were too many people crowding around me.  I was ever so grateful to find David’s hand reaching for me.  He pulled me up to the road.

About that time, Speedy had brought her salmon in the middle of the road to feast on it.  Some tourists in a van decided that they had to drive right past her, startling the bear.  As most of you know, it is simply not good manners to get between a mother bear with cubs. 

All of us began backing up as Speedy and the twins made their way towards us.  The bears quickly detoured into the adjoining woods, leaving us all upset at these inconsiderate people.  Richard, one of the professional photographers, lamented that Haines had become such a tourist trap.

The next morning, we broke camp and left Haines.  On our way out, we stopped by the now familiar eagle sanctuary’s viewing platform.  To our amazement, an enormous brown boar was fishing for salmon.  He was across the river and some 200 yards away.  We had never seen a bear so large.  I leave you with some photos of this absolutely magnificent beast.

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