Haines to Haines Jct

Today we first toured Haines, AK and saw Ft Seward. The officer’s homes are still being used as either private homes or hotels and there is and Indian interpretive center on the parade grounds but otherwise all military presence is gone. Our site on the ocean last night was just great with views of the ocean, marina and mountains across the Lyon Canal (this thing is about 2 miles across) were great. We decided to press on as you can see about all there is in Haines quickly.
We drove up Mud Road to the state campground but it was so windy and overcast that the thought of another day without sunshine had us both wanting to get further inland.
The drive up from Haines was breathtaking. Imagine climbing slowly thru a wide valley with forests of evergreens on either side of you and the peaks of the Alesek Range Mts all around you. You climb higher and the treeline disappears and now you are in a high alpine valley with wildflowers and greenery all around except for the peaks of the St Elias Mts. These are granite structures with glaciers everywhere you look.
Beside the road now there are rivers of snow and they cascade down from the mountain peaks.
You cross the Haines Hwy summit thru the Chilkat Pass always with a river in the valley bottom fed by numerous creeks from the mountains on either side. This is not your winding mountain road but a straight ribbon of asphalt that either climbs or descends down the valley pass. The valley goes on forever (as far as you can see) and is perhaps 30 miles wide. You are now in the Klane Natl Park after having gone thru the Tatshenshini Alsek Provincial Park.
The weind picks up as you cross the summit and continues gusting strongly but you drive on and see no homes, no cows no fences for the entire day. Few cars travel this route and you may go 30 minutes before seeing anyone. My kind of country.
You go from Alaska into Canada and pass thru the bureaucratic formalities of all country borders. You are now in British Columbia but not for long because suddenly there you are in the Yukon Terretories.
Along the way you stop in the Bald Eagle Preserve where in the fall there are 3,800 Bald Eagles lining the shoreline catching salmon. Today however you only spot two and they are too far away to photograph. A bear in the trees is photographed but there are probably too many trees in the way for a good picture to be achieved. A solitary female moose stands in Dezadeash munching on ths grasses below the water.
Finally you make camp at Kathleen Lake and although you have driven only 150 miles you are tired and with all the stops this has taken you all day.
So now dear reader you see what it feels like to have spent a day on the road in Alaska.
Tomorrow we will be on our way to Tok, AK and then down to Valdez which on the last trip was one of my favorite places. I hope that “Bad Ass Coffee” is still there on the harbor.
This will again probably not be posted before Valdez as the internet connections here are poor at best.
Lorne