dare2go

Haines Highway to Haines Junction


Continuation from < Page 1 < !

Monday, 21 August 2006, Beaver Creek, YT
On Sunday we began our journey into the cold north (although Juergen would say we have been there for some time)! We spent some time talking with our neighbours at the campsite - they were a friendly German couple who are travelling for their third year in a row in Alaska. They had a lot of interesting stories and also passed on lots of useful information to us. Just as I had enjoyed hearing my homeland accent on the ferry to Juneau, I'm sure Juergen also enjoyed chatting in his native tongue - and it wasn't bad for me to use my German again either.
After leaving the campground, we stopped briefly in Haines to access the internet and then were on our way along the Haines Highway. This highway connects Haines in Alaska to Haines Junction in the Yukon, where we will meet the Alaskan Highway. It is 146 miles and passes through 3 states and from the USA into Canada. There are quite a number of interesting sights along the way and, thanks to Julie in Juneau, we had our copy of The Milepost - "since 1949, the bible of North Country travel" - to make sure we didn't miss anything.
The first point of interest along the way is the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. This is the seasonal home to over 3000 Bald Eagles, but unfortunately none of them were in the air as we drove the 20 miles that are inside the Preserve. It is a bit early in the year as most of them arrive here in the autumn. It is 40 miles from Haines to the Canadian border. The countryside is mostly forested and the road follows the Chilkat River and then the Klehini River, with the Kluane Mountain Range is parallel to the Highway and the St Elias Mountain Range a little further to the west. This range contains many of Canada's highest peaks, including the highest - Mt Logan at 19545 feet. We stopped once at a scenic viewpoint overlooking the Klehini River, but the weather was so grey and overcast that we weren't inspired to take photographs. We had hoped that we had left the damp weather behind us in Juneau. We seemed to have left the rain, but the low cloud and mist and grey skies were still very much in evidence. We ate and drove on.
As we crossed into Canada - British Colombia for the first 45 miles - we began to notice a change. The mountains were less forested than before and the trees we did see were much smaller. We had heard that the tree line in many parts of Alaska is often below 1000 m and this seemed to be true here as well. As we crossed the Haines Highway Summit at 1040m the mountains were covered with grass and low shrubs, but trees were noticeably absent. This pass, called Chilkat Pass, is the original one used on this route by the First Nation people who used this as a trade route long before any European involvement and also while they were trading in furs with the Russians. The Gold Rush of 1898 was what finally opened the pass to other than native users.
After entering the Yukon, the road affords a clearer view of the St Elias Mountains, and there are a number of viewpoints along the road to stop. However, the low cloud and mist precluded all but rare views. The sky was clearing a little and we did have glimpses of blue sky, but the mountains were shrouded in cloud most of the day. We stopped at the Million Dollar Falls Campground to visit the falls. There is a board walk and viewing platform which gives easy access to the falls and rapids. It was an impressive sight seeing so much water rushing through such a small space.
The other place of interest we visited on the way was the Klukshu Fish Camp. Traditionally the camp is occupied by the natives during the time that the fish are running. They are caught and smoked and then used through the winter months. Whilst not being a really touristy spot, the village had information panels and you could wander at your leisure through the area, gathering all the information you needed from these panels. One small house is set aside as a museum and gift shop and it has some interesting historical artefacts of both the First Nation culture and the white pioneers.
Almost 20 miles out from Haines Junction we had bear sighting number 7! About ½ km ahead I spotted something crossing the road and quickly realised it was a bear. As we drew level with it and stopped a little past it, it was still on the road edge, but nearly into the trees. Juergen just got the camera ready and I was reversing the car, but the noise startled him and he was gone. He was an interesting looking brown bear because he had an almost blonde streak along the ridge of his back. The hair seemed to stand up mohawk style. We asked at the Haines Junction visitor centre this morning but no-one had ever heard of a bear with a blonde mohawk!!!
We arrived at Haines Junction in the early evening to discover that there were two RV Parks, neither of which was very attractive to us. So we checked our campground information and drove 5 miles toward Whitehorse - the opposite direction on the Alaska Highway to that which we want to go - and stayed in the Pine Lake Campground.