Alaska adventure, Early September 2019 – SE Alaska, Haines, Skagway, Juneau, AK

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We are unofficially starting our return trip.  There is a lot more Alaska to see, so it’s not really returning -  yet.  I really don’t like taking the same route twice, so we planned this trip as a big loop.  This is the first portion, Tok to Haines Junction, where we are taking the same road back that we came up on. Sometimes there is only one Alaska road option.

Fireweed

We stop at Kluane Lake on the way to Haines, this time we have a clear view of the lake and surrounding mountains.  On our trip up our first vision of Kluane Lake was smoke filled, seeing part of the lake but the surrounding mountains were silhouettes, shrouded in smoke.  The Fireweed which was glowing pink – now is breaking open releasing wispy seeds. After 30 minutes of photographing them we find out we are sensitive to them – itchy eyes and runny nose.

Kluane Lake, YT

After coffee, hot chocolate and cinnamon roll at the Village Bakery in Haines Junction, YT, we turn off the AK highway on to the Haines Hwy. towards Haines, AK.  The road is even more picturesque than the others.  We are surrounded by mountains in fall color.  Working our way towards Haines we see more and more glaciers.  The trees are still in their summer green, I assume because the moderate temperatures from being so close to the open water.

Bald eagles, by the thousands congregate here in November.  We do not see any on the road to Haines.  We spot only one black bear crossing the road our entire drive from Tok.

Haines

After arriving at the campground we walk the town; noting tourist shops, museums and the grocery store, all essential stops during our stay in Haines.

On the way to Chilkoot Lake State Park we come upon a stack of vehicles parked along the road; no place to stop, a grizzly bear jam.  Chilkoot Lake State Park at the end of the Chilkoot Inlet is on our list of places to see.  We are not camping here, this is Labor Day weekend; a major holiday along with the limited number of campsites scared us from trying to find a campsite.  Touring the full campground tells us we made a good decision.

Continuing past the first bear jam we come upon many more people set up with cameras with long lenses on tripods waiting for bird sightings.

The Chilkoot River on the way into the park has a fish weir used to limit and count salmon going upstream.  No bears are fishing the river as we pass.  Where the river exits the lake we do see multiple people fly fishing the mountain surrounded lake.

 Returning, we spot a grizzly stalking the river for dinner gradually making her way across the river.  A few minutes later a troop of photographers stops asking about the grizzly.  “She’s over there”, as she disappears into the forest.

Continuing down the road we come upon another group of photographers camped out upstream of the fish weir photographing another grizzly feeding on salmon.  Stopping, we don’t notice the white line painted on the road, ‘the stay outside this area – bears’ line.  It is strictly enforced by volunteers monitoring and directing tourists where they can and should be.  We spend a half hour photographing this grizzly before it too disappears into the forest.

Not having the patience to wait and see if the bears reappear we take off for the Sheldon Museum learning more of the Tlingit culture and the art and culture of recent peoples in the Haines area.

The next day we return to the Chilkoot Inlet.  It is again filled with vehicles and photographers.  This time we become part of the crowd.  A grizzly prowls the shore, turning rocks over looking for eels.  Having seemingly satisfied its appetite it wanders across the road, then changes its mind returning to the shore.  Somehow it disappears from view for several minutes.  Nobody knows what to do, we don’t want to climb down to the beach.  Suddenly it startles us showing up on the opposite side of the road.  It had crawled through a culvert under the road. Then it too disappears into the forest.

Does anybody see a bear?

Battery Point hiking trail parallels the Chilkoot Inlet.  We hike through dense forest seeing several types of mushrooms we have never seen before.  Emerging from the forest we enjoy lunch on a rock outcropping watching small fishing boats traversing the inlet.

We stop at some shops adding to our supply of canned salmon and souvenirs for people back home.  A visit of Chilkat State Park on the Chilkat Inlet, on the opposite side of the Haines peninsula is empty of campers.

Returning to town, we see two young men hand hewing a large log next to their shop.  Sovereign, is a Tlingit owned original art, and gift shop.  Originally we thought they were carving a totem pole.  Instead they are working on a river canoe, starting with a 3’+ diameter Cottonwood tree trunk 40’ in length.  Each are using an Adze, an indigenous people’s tool for carving wood.  The Adze is essentially an ax with the blade set 90° to the handle.  The only other tool I see is a sliding T-bevel tool for measuring the angle of the outside of the canoe. 

Ted explains the steps needed to complete the canoe: once the basic shape is complete; smooth the outside using a spokeshave; flip the log over so they can use a cupped Adze to hollow out the log; fill the log with water, using heated rocks from a fire, place the rocks in the center of the log softening the log to widen the center of the canoe.  Then do the finish work.  They have been working on the canoe for two weeks and expect to have it completed in two months.  This is their first canoe.
The two of them have worked with a Tlingit elder on canoe making and assisted on several prior to this so he has a good idea of what has to be done.  Ted is the assistant.  They are planning on having it ready for the biennial celebration of the indigenous peoples.  Each tribe builds their own version of a canoe for the celebration.

Ted takes us into their shop showing us several hand made pieces for sale.  He proudly shows us his own hand carved canoe paddle which he has used to paddle over 500 miles.  We leave them, continuing work on turning their Cottonwood trunk into a river canoe.

View back towards Haines

The next morning we are up at 345 readying ourselves for our second ferry ride, this time to Skagway.  During our planning stage our choices were either a six+ hour drive or a one hour ferry ride…  We are the third from last to board.  While waiting we witness several families with trucks and trailers have to back their rigs down a narrow ramp on to the ferry – better them than me.  By being one of the last to board we are one of the first to disembark at Skagway.

View towards Skagway

Skagway

Skagway

Skagway is an hour away.  We pass three cruise ships already docked and emptied of passengers.  Disembarking we find we are right in town.  At the first parking lot we park, starting our tour of town.  The shop owners assume we are part of the three cruise ships adding about 4,000 visitors to Skagway.  Each shop owner has a calendar with the number of ships and tourists invading their town.  The next few days the Skagway population will grow by 6,000.  This is not tourist season!

Skagway

Skagway

The main Skagway tourist area is nine blocks long by two or three blocks wide filled with souvenirs, jewelry, coffee shops, restaurants, and bars.  Skagway has less than 1,000 full time residents.   Checking into the RV Park on the port we see occasional lines of people either going into town or returning to their ship.  Camping in town is convenient, leaving the camper set up and walking to the shops, hiking trails and White Pass Yukon Rail tour.

Yukon Pass Train

Skagway was the port town leading to the White Pass Trail, one of main trails of the Klondike Gold Rush.  Gold was discovered in August of 1896 where the Yukon and Klondike rivers meet in northwestern Canada, over 500 miles from Skagway.  100,000 stampeders made their way to the gold, many of them took either the White Pass Trail or the nearby Chilkoot Trail.  The Chilkoot Trail was 33 miles long with a very steep climb to the pass at 3,700’ while the White Pass Trail was an additional 10 miles in length with the pass at 3,000’.  The Canadian government required the stampeders to have a year’s worth of supplies, 2,000 lbs., before they could enter Canada.  This meant 20 – 40 trips back and forth ferrying their supplies.  Travel time is estimated to have taken three months to make it through the pass.  This was only the start, another 400+ miles to the gold.  Sad to say by the time many of the stampeders made it to stake their claims the gold had already run out.

View from the Yakutania trail

We decide our train ride along the White Pass Trail is as close as we want to get to experiencing what the stampeders experienced.  Instead we hike the Yakutania Point trail continuing on to Smuggler’s Point.  On another walk through town we visit is Gold Rush cemetery, used from 1800’s through the early 1900’s.

Gold Rush Cemetery

Reid Falls

Frank Reid and ‘Soapy Smith’s’ are two of the graves there, two important people in the history of Skagway.  Reid Falls is a short walk from the cemetery, worth a visit.  Back in town we see the Skagway museum filled with artifacts from early Skagway history.  We also attend a melodrama of the ‘Soapy Smith’ story informing us how he cheated the miners passing through the area.

View along WPYR route

Taking the White Pass and Yukon Rail Tour, (WPYR) bus to Carcross, YT, returning by train, we get an idea of the terrain the stampeders experienced to get through the White Pass.  Our trip through the pass is only a day; riding in comfort.  We make several bus stops admiring the scenery, shooting more images.  Annie, our driver prepares us to hold our passport beside our faces so the customs officials can quickly scan us before letting us go on our way.  This complete, we leave the bus at Carcross, tour the shops for a few minutes before transferring to the train for the return trip.  The scenery along the rail line is even better than seen from the road.

Lakes and ponds surround us, we spend part of the trip standing on the railcar platforms shooting images.  Descending from the White Pass summit we see the actual trail the stampeders took through the pass.  It is a one person wide trail, I would not want to do this 40 times with up to 50 lbs. of supplies on my back.  We enjoy a nice dinner in Skagway anticipating our next ferry ride, tomorrow, to Juneau.

Leaving Skagway

This time we are one of the first ones on the ferry.  We have a few stops before arriving in Juneau so we are not certain how the order of cars works between boarding and disembarking.  We stake out a good table with a view for the ride to Juneau.  We enjoy the seven hour ride to Juneau working on projects, stopping to shoot the scenery and just enjoying our time together.

Between Skagway and Juneau

Juneau

We stay at the Mendenhall Lake Campground, the lake is fed by the Mendenhall Glacier.  Bear warning signs are all around but we do not see any bears during our several day stay.  The next day we start our Juneau exploration.  Our first stop is at the State Museum.  We see more displays of the indigenous people along with a lot of information on the Russian presence starting in the 1740’s.  We stop at the Macaulay Fish Hatchery seeing ‘silvers’, coho salmon.  They look to be almost twice the size of the sockeye salmon we caught a few weeks earlier.  People are fishing at the mouth of the hatchery, coho are putting on a show jumping out of the water with regularity. 

Mendenhall Lake Campground

Mendenhall Lake

Completing our laundry for another week we head off to visit the Mendenhall Glacier.  We hike the East Glacier Trail.  We get glimpses of the glacier between small openings in the forest.  A time lapse video in the visitor center confirms how fast the glacier has receded between 2007 and 2017.  A hike to Photo Point provides a clear view of the Mendenhall Glacier.

Mendenhall Glacier

Tomorrow we leave the camper at the Juneau airport flying to Sitka, then Ketchikan before returning to Juneau.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark