The Haines Harbor
A Tlingit totem pole in Haines.
Haines Harbor to the right and the Chilkoot Inlet to the left.
We saw a ton of eagles all over Alaska. This one is a permanent resident at the eagle sanctuary and museum in Haines. It was injured when it flew into power lines and can no longer fly.
Leaving Haines and heading to Skagway on the MV Hubbard.
Part of downtown Skagway.
White Pass Railroad servicing Skagway.
Canyon pass between Skagway and the Yukon border. It was a long, long way down to the bottom.
Our Yukon greeting committee. We saw one brown bear and 4 black bears in Yukon today.
A desert in northern Canada? Who knew??
Carcross Desert, Yukon
Is that right? A desert in Canada??
The first part of this leg of our trip took us from Haines Junction, Yukon to Haines, Alaska. This leg also took me to places I had never been to before. Haines, AK is a 150 mile drive due south of Haines Junction, YK on the Haines Highway. The scenery on this leg was diverse and every bit as beautiful as going to Seward and Valdez. Haines is a very small town of 1800 permanent residents on the Chilkoot Inlet toward the top of Alaska’s panhandle. It’s a town that time forgot with small mom and pop businesses and a ferry terminal serviced by the Alaska Marine Highway Service. There were no chain stores in town. Every business we visited was located in a building that was easily 100 years old. It was also one of the most scenic towns we visited. Greg and I both felt like we could spend our summers there and be very happy. I don’t think I’d ever get tired of the view of Chilkoot Inlet.
Haines and much of Alaska’s panhandle is home to Tlinget First Nation Tribe. (Tlingit is pronounced klink-et.)Totem poles tell stories of tribal families and almost always have a raven at the top. The raven is considered the most important character in the story.
After we left Haines, we loaded the RV on the MV Hubbard ferry and took the one hour trip to Skagway. The ferry ride actually cut about 350 miles off our trip back down through Canada. We both thought it was a bargain for the faire we paid and loved the cruise up the Taiya Inlet.
Skagway is another town I have never visited before. It’s a pretty town at the top of the Taiya Inlet, a little further north on the panhandle than Haines. It is visited by tons of Alaskan cruise ships in the summer. There were four ships in port when we arrived and the town was packed with tourists. Skagway was a bit more commercialized than Haines was. Most of the stores were related to tourists; gift shops, t-shirts, sweatshirts and jewelry could be found everywhere. It’s a cool little town. Don’t get me wrong. It was just a lot busier and more tourist focused than Haines was.
We left Skagway and headed back toward the southern end of Yukon. The drive from Skagway to the Canadian border is absolutely breathtaking. The Klondike Highway from Skagway to the border hangs on the edge of a cliff, a thousand feet above a canyon. There were beautiful waterfalls and incredible scenery in every direction. If you don’t like heights, you definitely shouldn’t look over the side. It was a long, long way to the bottom!
About an hour into Yukon, we stopped at Carcross Desert. Prior to researching this trip, I had no idea there was a desert in Canada, much less in Yukon. It reminded me a lot of Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan. We stopped and walked around a bit, more to say we had been to a desert in Canada than anything.
Tonight we are staying at the Yukon Hotel RV Park in Teslin. We got here about 8 PM and hustled to get setup and order dinner in their tiny restaurant before they closed at 9 PM. I’m glad we went because I had one of the best meals I’ve had in a while there. I had to try the pierogies and elk sausage because I’m a sucker for local specialties. Our waiter told me, in a very convincing way that it was his favorite thing on the menu. I love pierogies and kielbasa so I figured I’d give it a try. The elk sausage was not spicy at all, a little drier than kielbasa and excellent. The pierogies were covered in grilled onions and bacon. I ate every bite on my plate. It was excellent!
The next 4 days, we will be driving south in British Columbia toward Chelan, Washington to visit some of Greg’s cousins. We are really looking forward to seeing them. It’s been way too long since we saw his “west coast” family. More from the road later.
