Unhitching in Haines

Haines Small Boat Harbor

Bumpy, dirty, dusty and the worse road we encountered this time around, that was our drive after leaving Tok.   It was one long miserable stretch of construction once we passed the Canadian border till we hit Destruction Bay.   It was relief to stop for the night at Cottonwood RV Park on the enchanting Lake Kluane.  

On the way to Haines

The next morning the autumn season had arrived!  The temperatures had dropped and the wind was cold and fierce, a vivid reminder that the summer season was ending and winter was coming soon to the great North.  Although the road improved greatly, Jack struggled with strong headwinds most of the way to Haines.  Still it was a magnificently beautiful drive with some of the trees starting to put their fall colors on for show. Two very stressful days of driving for Jack, we were ready for a rest!

Haines is one of my favorite small coastal towns in Alaska.  It is located in a spot accessible by both a road and the Alaska Marine Highway.  It is a short ferry ride from Skagway but a world of difference between the two towns. Skagway catering to the cruise ships and tourist industry, and Haines being more authentic in character with only one smaller cruise ship stopping each week.   We stayed at the Haines Hitch-up RV Park and enjoyed the next two weeks resting and waiting for our ship to arrive.  We had finally decided in favor of taking the ferry to Prince Rupert, BC and thus avoiding a significant amount of backtracking. Only problem there was only one sailing two weeks away that had enough room for the Biff, she is a total of 57 feet when hitched to the truck.  We broke it up into two parts, sailing to Juneau first and staying there for a few days and then catching the ferry to Prince Rupert on September 7.  More about Juneau and the ferry trip in a later post.

The area around Haines is spectacular.  Haines has a long history being the ancestral home of the powerful Chilkat  tribe and later becoming the first military base in Alaska.  There are a few museums, a historical fort, an eagle sanctuary along with a few restaurants and obligatory gift shops required for cruise ship ports. We did a few drives in the area.  Jack and I took some nice walks around town and short hikes on nearby trails. Plenty to keep us occupied. Let’s not forget about bear watching.  Every evening around dinner time the local stars were a mom and her two cubs.   Everyone came out to watch the antics (from a safe distance!) of the two cubs while mom did the fishing.

Mama Bear Fishing

Baby Bears  Fighting

Snow on the Pass

Wilderness Cabin

The weather was a pattern, a few sunny days followed by a few of cold rain. One morning the peaks surrounding Haines definitely had fresh snow.  We heard it was already snowing up north in Tok and on the road we took from Haines Junction. We decided to drive up to the pass and see for ourselves.  And yes there was a light dusting of snow!  It was quiet, eerily lonesome and beautiful but so cold up on that pass!  We found a small survival cabin and understood the need for these safe havens against the elements. We were thinking maybe it was good thing we were taking the ferry and avoiding the long drive back through the Yukon and BC with  the now very real possibility of snow. The day for the ferry trip to Juneau arrived! The boat sailed at 5:00pm on one of those sunny days.  It was a pleasant sunset cruise and very dark when we pulled into the Juneau harbor at 9:00 pm.  The daylight hours were significantly shortening since we arrived in Haines.  One more sign it was time to start heading south.

North Enough

North to Fairbanks!  This is the furthest north we were planning on going this trip. We headed up the Al-Can to its end in Delta Junction and then continued onto the Richardson Highway to Fairbanks.We did not stop at Delta Junction on the way up but we did on the way back to Tok ( Yes Tok again!).  I thought I would talk about it first.  This is the point where the Al-Can ends and connects with the Richardson Highway.  There is a little museum and exhibit to commemorate the massive undertaking of the building of the Al-Can highway.  It was truly an amazing joint effort between the US and Canada to build this road across the cold frosty wilderness. It’s original WWII wartime purpose an inland route to get supplies to Alaska in the event of invasion from Japan.  Now we RV’ers get to drive it for the sense of adventure you cannot get on any other road. Yes, we complain about the condition and constant road construction but none the less it is an amazing feat just to say you have driven this road - all 1422 (more or less) miles of it!

We spent the next few days in Fairbanks. We visited Pioneer Park that showcases the history of the area steeped in gold mining and aviation lore.  We visited and mailed a birthday card to my daughter from the town of North Pole's post-office. Santa says you better be good boys and girls!  One day we drove to the Chena Hot Springs Resort.  This drive is a good place to see moose and sure enough we were not disappointed. We toured the Ice Palace on the grounds too.  A bit of a tourist trap but fun!  A little too early in the day for us to have an appletini served in an ice martini glass but it sure was fun watching them make the glasses!   There is also a nice restaurant lodge where the salads are freshly picked from the thermal warmed hot houses on the grounds.  The waiter told us the high season is winter where folks come to soak in the hot springs and see the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. The Japanese especially find it fortuitous to conceive their progeny under the lights. 

Making Martini Gasses

It's Huge!

Let’s not forget that other engineering marvel the Alaskan Pipeline.   Fairbanks has an exposed and accessible section of the pipeline. It is huge!  Next it was back to Tok for one more overnight stay. A fellow RV’er recommended visiting the local gold shops. One shop in particular was noted for having a large gold nugget. If they find you trust worthy they will even let you hold it! Wow! Guess we looked honest. Jack also let me pick out my birthday present too, a beautiful raw gold nugget and diamond necklace. I struck it rich with my honey!

Beautiful Backtracking

Worthington Glacier

There are not many roads in Alaska so at some point you find yourself backtracking.  We left Homer backtracking along the  Kenai Peninsula spending the night in Portage and the next night backtracking on the  Glenn Highway and spending the night near the Glennallen junction.   Our destination this time was beautiful Valdez.  The drive from the Glennallen  to Valdez is one of the most scenic in Alaska. We decided to stop at a roadhouse along the Copper River valley area for a late breakfast.  It was run by a gold miner, trapper, innkeeper, cook and bottle washer combined into one colorful character! His little gift shop had the fruits of his labor including gold nuggets and animal pelts. I wanted to get his picture but thought better of the idea,  I got the impression he was someone you should stay on the good side.  Continuing the drive you cross over Thompson Pass noted for having highest recorded snowfall in Alaska and  pass Worthington Glacier.  Just spectacular! Typically, if we think an area may be crowded we call ahead a few days beforehand and make a reservation.  We were thinking this would not be necessary for Valdez but we were wrong.  We arrived in Valdez on a big fishing tournament weekend.  We barely got a spot and our neighbor was on the cranky side.  It was close quarters, what Jack and I call a sardine park. 

Valdez is a small town but it has a beautiful harbor located on the majestic Prince William Sound.  It has an interesting history. The original town was wiped out in the epic 1964 Good Friday Earthquake and moved to its current location. You can visit the site of the original town.  It is also known for the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill.  The museums in the town our worth checking out on one of those rainy days you will inevitably run into during your stay.  Last time we did one of the boat excursions in the Prince William and I highly recommend, we saw a lot of ocean wild life including harbor seals, otters and whales.  This time we opted out since we had just done the boat trip out of Whittier.

Allison Point

The fish hatchery on Allison Point attracts a lot of eagle and bear action.  We took a drive almost every day to the hatchery but we kept missing all the bear sightings. Dang!  Last time we saw plenty and we were disappointed that we did not see any this time. There are plenty of scenic drives and glaciers to see and fishing too if that is your thing.  We stayed a week in Valdez enjoying the beauty of the area.  (Click here for previous post on Valdez.)

Solomon Gulch Hatchery

 It was time for us to go and backtrack yet again finding ourselves in Tok for the night. Decision time do we skip going further north to Fairbanks or head east towards Haines?