Haines

In the morning about ½ mile south on the end of Kluane Lake we start to drive across a barren piece of land off the south end of the Lake.  The Thechàl Dhâl Visitor Centre, which I was not aware of, appears off to our right on an elevated road, so we decide to check it out. The Center is closed for another hour but there are displays explaining the changing ecology of the area.  Looking at Google maps the road we are on is a causeway over the shallow waters on the south end of the lake. What we see is an elevated roadway surrounded by fields of sandy soil with very little vegetation. The waters from the Icefields and glaciers that flow into Kluane Lake have changed and shaped the lake for hundreds of years.  Between 300 and 400 years ago one of the glaciers advanced across Kluane Lake’s drainage outlet raising the lake by 30 feet reversing the drainage south to the gulf of Alaska to north to the Bering Sea. In the spring of 2016 this glacier, now further retreating, runoff is diverting to the Pacific Ocean with only local streams feeding into the Lake, lowering the lake level. The floodplain around the road is now dry and dusty. Kluane lake is 50 miles long, the largest lake entirely within the Yukon. 

Village Bakery in Haines Junction

Our next good cell connection is another hour south at Haines Junction.  We stop at the Village Bakery for coffee and pastries and to make reservations for the next couple days. I want to take the ferry from Haines to Skagway, but can’t get an opening until Friday August 9th. To drive from Haines to Skagway is about 350 miles, a long days drive, by ferry it is about 40 minutes.  A local fellow who overhears our conversation and who lives in Haines says, they never leave any paying customer at the dock and says we should just show up on Wednesday, we will get on board. So I go ahead and make a reservation at Haines Hitch-Up RV Park for two nights. We will check in at the Ferry dock when we get to town. It is about a 2-½ hour drive from Haines Junction.

Road to Haines

We have a lovely drive south on our second sunny day in a row. We drive through high mountain valleys with few trees until we start to drop elevation in the last hour into Haines, down past the snow field peaks and glaciers. Just gorgeous scenery.

Cruise ships in Haines

We check in at the RV park and get directions to the ferry terminal 4 miles north of town. We immediately drive there to get on a waitlist and are told our chances are excellent to get on on Wednesday.  And I was ready to give up going to Haines, because I could not get a reservation online, but thankfully a local, set me straight. And Linda says I’m too loud sometimes, it worked here.

Made in the Shade

Dinner

Not a lot of dining choices in the small town of Haines, but we find an interesting place, the Old Field Kitchen on the grounds of the former Army Fort parade grounds, surrounded by former office quarters from the turn of the last century. Very unique worldly menu, we split an excellent dinner. The menu constantly changes. The restaurant seating is on long tables and benches and I think we are the only non-locals here at this nearly full place. You have to seek this place out,  a tourist would not just happen upon it by chance since it is outside the main town area.