Haines to Skagway

 

Haines is situated at the upper end of North America’s longest and deepest fjord.  It is 14 miles south of Skagway and 80 miles north of Juneau.  Also, Haines has one of the highest concentrations of Bald Eagles in North America.

So I’m ready to leave Haines by ferry, only my reservation was messed up (it showed October rather than August) and I was delayed a day.  No big deal. It actually gave me some time to try to see the bears catching their dinner out of the river.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find any hungry bears, but there were tons of eagles just sitting in the trees!  The Chilkoot State Recreation Area river and lake was a beautiful spot.  As my luck seems to go, several people in my Alaska 2018 group posted pictures over the next couple of days of the bears!

 

I spent the night at a turn-out off the highway and then headed back to the ferry in the morning … only there wasn’t any place along the highway wide enough for me to turn around so I drove to the end of the road, unhooked the Jeep, turned the coach around, and then re-hooked the Jeep.  I get lots of practice.  That’s probably why my wrist won’t heal.

So, I arrive at the ferry, unhook the Jeep, check in and then move into line.  This is quite the production.  Very organized.  It took about 2 hours to load all the vehicles. The ship sure didn’t look big enough to hold everyone.  The rigs back down the ramp and park in lanes bumper to bumper, and I mean tight, and then the passenger cars drive on and park.

The ship is very nice and comfortable and the hour passage took no time at all.  Because the parking lot in Skagway is a little farther than the one in Haines, I gave my Jeep keys to Andrea, a very nice lady that has worked for the Alaska Marine Highway for 9 years.  I drove the coach off, parked, and then ran back to the ship …. The workers all cleared room for me to pass, but I still didn’t make it and reached my Jeep on the ramp.  While hooking up again, I gave a demo to a couple of workers that had questions.

In Skagway, I ate at a restaurant on a side street and ended up getting some really excellent veal parmigiana; the sauce was delicious.  I’ve had veal a few times as it is not the expense it is in the States; about the same price as chicken.  As I have been to Skagway before, I spent the day and then moved on to sleep in another turn-out on the way to Carcross rather than get a campsite in Skagway.

One of the things I like to do when visiting a new town, besides checking out the quilting shops and sampling the local ice cream, is to visit a grocery store and find new items. For instance, I’m surprised to find kimchee and the amount of sushi-type products in these small towns.  Even Dawson Creek had quite the selection.