Haines, Alaska

July 11, 2017

History

Founded: the North West Trading Company settled the area in 1880, the city of Haines was incorporated in 1910.

Region: Haines in located on the shores of the Lynn Canal on the Chilkat Peninsula between the Chilkoot and Chilkat rivers. It is bordered by the spectacular Chilkat Mountain Range on the west (which was hiding in the clouds this day) and the Coast Range on the east.

Population: 2620

Climate: Haines enjoys some of the sunniest weather in southeast AK. The mild climate has summer temperatures in the 50 – 70F range.

Haines boasts the largest concentration of Bald Eagles in the world. Home to approximately 400 permanent Bald Eagle residents; the number grows to over 4,000 in the fall when the salmon are running… “Free food”, the Eagles say.

In 1982, the 48,000-acre Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve was created by the State of Alaska to protect and perpetuate the lifecycle of this magnificent bird of prey. A variety of excursions take you to the heart of the “Valley of the Eagles” and tours by jet boat or raft venture into untouched remote areas for unparalleled views of these iconic creatures in their natural surroundings.

Haines and Skagway are two of 3 cities (Hyder is the 3^rd) in southeast AK accessible by road. It is a 350-mile drive between the two but only 14 miles by water.

The Disney movie “White Fang” was filmed entirely in Haines.

Year round the waters of the Chilkat Rivers are ice-free. This natural phenomenon is due to underground hot springs that warm the water’s temperature. The perfect bathtub for salmon!

Artist Haven: In 2007, Haines was recognized for the highest number of full time artists per capita in all the rural United States.

Arrived in Haines, Alaska around 11am. We had a quick breakfast at the International Café, where we got our ‘wake up’ coffee or tea. The morning fog, clouds and heaviness of the rain lent for majestic and ominous views of the port and mountains. On the dock was a sign that left one with an “oxymoron feeling” about climbing down the ladder…

 

As luck would have it – it had rained all morning and was still raining in port. Since our adventure did not begin until 1:30pm, we had a couple of hours to wait. Waiting is not much fun in the rain…! so most people crammed into a small souvenir shop to stay dry, looked around pretending to be interested in the trinkets for sale. But I will bet most people bought something – even if it was only a postcard, we did.

Dave Pahl is a Haines resident with a passion for hammers. His museum, “Hammer Head”, proudly displays his collection amassed over 20 years. Where else can you see over 1,400 instruments for building and torture from around the world including an 800 year old Tlingit war hammer. Sadly, we did not have time to visit this museum – for we were off for our River Adventure.

Haines Wilderness River Adventure

“Where the road ends, our adventure begins”

We boarded a bus @ 1:45pm, which took us along the Haines Scenic Byway for a narrated and informative journey en route to the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. I thought it interesting that Haines is purported to have the “mildest” climate… but this area is the only ‘active’ rainfall we have seen to date. Our bus driver, sorry I didn’t get her name, was wonderfully engaging about the area, pointing out landmarks and sharing stories, of course. She came to AK for a summer and never left, which is a story we heard on our excursions by lots of guides. Some are only here for the tourist season (but they come back every season) and then spend the winters in the lower 48. Some, like our bus driver, came and never left. After you’ve been in AK for one winter (that’s 6 months long, cold, and without much sunshine, mind you), you are considered a native.

The bus driver’s most important message for us was, “Whatever gear they offer you – TAKE IT!” We were offered; rainproof jackets, hats, gloves, earmuffs, and blankets – all of which we took! No umbrellas were allowed on the boat for obvious reasons. As it was raining, we DID heed her advice, our flat-bottomed vessel was open aired… Everyone in Haines was happy for the rain, except for those of us in the boat, as they had not had much rain this summer. Sierra, our captain, said, “There is no such thing as bad weather in Alaska– just improper clothing”.

Before we embarked, we were treated to lunch: hotdogs, veggie chili, potato chips, and tomato bisque soup, plus hot chocolate, cider and tea, all very delicious. After lunch we dressed in all our gear and waddled out, looking much like a child whose mother had dressed them in a snowsuit, hat, mittens, gloves, scarf – hardly able to move or bend down to make a snowball because of all the extra clothing… YES, we were grateful!

 

Our captain, Sierra, escorted us to a specially designed flat-bottomed vessel to cruise miles of scenic shallow channels of the Chilkat river. A flat-bottomed boat is a necessity because the rivers’ ‘bottom’ is always changing and the silt is always shifting – So the captain must be able to ‘read’ the ever-changing river currents. Sierra said the defining question that got her this job was, “Can you read the river?” Eagles, moose and bears were on our list to be viewed today, along the riverbanks. Since it was a Bald Eagle Preserve we were touring, we were quite sure we would see eagles, and hopefully more…

Sierra presented us with safety precautions – including no standing in the boat unless the boat was stopped and SHE told us we could. She informed us the engines were jet propelled and had no propellers so as not to injure fish. We were in the back row just in front of our captain. We usually like the front row, which has a windshield, but this time the back was more advantageous as the windshield was rain splattered so it was difficult to see or take pictures through it. For the majority of the ride, front visibility was quite limited. Lady Luck was with us for seating today.

As we pulled out into the Chilkat River we saw salmon jumping up stream as it was the beginning of the spawning season. Up in the trees, we saw numerous Bald Eagles sitting in the Black Cottonwood trees and we were able to view a few nests. Bald Eagles return to the same nest every year to raise their eaglets. We were informed that the first nest we saw was 4’ wide x 6’ long x 4’ deep – large enough to meditate in for me… what a view! Along our route, a river otter swam right next to the boat on the starboard side of the boat, the people there got a nice close up view, unfortunately, I was on the port side. I learned, this trip, that the easy way to differentiate ‘port’ from ‘starboard’ is: port has 4 letters and so does left – in the direction the boat is traveling – and by default, starboard is on the right. Thank you Audra for that tip.

At one point in our motoring – 3 rivers came together and the one fork was glacier runoff and was a different color than the other two rivers (Chilkat & Chilkoot Rivers). Where the 3 rivers or forks meet, just downstream was tribal land and village – our Captain said the Haines Wilderness River Adventure company respects their boundaries religiously and does not go through the waters adjacent to their land.

 

Along our way we saw quite a few bald eagles, numerous salmon jumping, and the greenest trees, grass and bushes – it looked like Ireland, except for more trees.

At one point, our captain got a radio call from another captain that a moose was spotted in a marsh just down river from where we were. Our Captain, making sure we got our money’s worth… turned the boat around and hi-tailed it to that fork of the river. The moose cow was still there and we got an up-close view of her, if you had enough ‘mm’ on your lens. Sadly, I left my ‘big-gun’ camera safely on the ship and opted for my waterproof camera for obvious reasons. Therefore my zoom capacity was severely limited. We were allowed to stand up as the captain shut off the engines and we were in silence on the river watching a magnificent creature in her element. As everyone went to the starboard side, the boat listed quite a bit. The captain pointed out that the moose kept looking over her shoulder and that was probably because she had a baby hidden in the marsh. Mama moose was unperturbed by us as she grazed on willows and marsh grass. There was a ladder attached to a tree and I asked what it was, Sierra said it was a moose-viewing ladder.

Our time was running out on the river though, so after what seemed like a good long time, our captain started up the jets and we motored back to the dock. On our way to the dock, someone asked Sierra if she was a full-timer in Haines and she said she was thinking about spending her first winter in Alaska this season… After the boat was safely tied at the dock we climbed out and then boarded the same bus to return to the ship, saying a sad goodbye to the Chilkat River and Haines.

When we were all on board, the Grand Princess set sail for Juneau by 7:30 pm.

All Aboard…