Haines Anything but Plain

We back tracked over Thompson Pass and started heading towards Tok via the Tok Cutoff. Haines being the final destination. Stayed the night in Tok at the Sourdough RV park. It was raining but it was a fun crowd. Every night they crank up the music and have live entertainment. They had a covered outdoor pavilion and had a roaring fire. Everyone seemed to be regulars or repeat rv goers that come back every year. Jack was feeling little under the weather and stayed back at the homestead. I ran into a British couple that we met on the road back in Valdez ( they had the same truck and Excel so we just had to say "hi"). They gave some tips on where to stay on the way back into Canada. We took their suggestion and stayed at the Cottonwood RV Park near Destruction Bay on the way to Haines.

We were glad to stop. The road from Tok to Destruction Bay was one of the worse we hit excluding the “Top of the World” route from the Canadian/Alaskan border to Chicken. We ended up staying three nights so Jack could rest up, he was feeling progressively worse. I spent one of the days by a fire on the shore and watched the rainbows all day on the Kluane Lake.

This is a really beautiful area and I really enjoyed the stay. Very relaxing. There was a grizzly bear in the area and I had close encounter with him while walking the dogs one morning. Luckily we decided to go our separate ways.

The ride to Haines Junction and on to Haines was another really beautiful drive. Again, the closer we got to the coastal town of Haines the rain started and stayed until we left five days later. Jack ended up seeing a doctor, he lost the battle and the cold turned into a sinus infection (antibiotics to the rescue!) Haines is not a touristy town and we enjoyed exploring the area. The Chilkoot river in Alaska connects the Chilkoot lake to the Lynn Canal. Bears and eagles like to hang around to eat the salmon and have the right of way.

From Haines

We found a little café and bakery (Chilkat) that had the best old fashion doughnuts I have ever had and really good soup too. We decided to take the Alaska Inland Marine Ferry to Skagway instead of back tracking to Haines Junction. That was a fun adventure! Pretty spiffy for a ferry! They have cabins, meals and a bar. You can take the ferry all the way up from Bellingham, WA with Haines to Skagway being the last leg of the trip.

They had a park rangers on board that gave a narrative of the area. He made a statement “you a really not seeing a rain forest unless it is raining”. So true for the South Eastern coast of Alaska. We did a drive by of Skagway which caters to the large cruise ships and tourists. The drive was very foggy over the pass and the landscape reminded me of parts of Nova Scotia, very eerily beautiful. I sure was missing the sun by the time we made it to Whitehorse!