Around Haines, Alaska

Haines is a quaint little village that has some interesting things to explore. If you are into hiking and the outdoors, there are a couple state parks and the eagle preserve that would be very much to your liking.

We started out by checking out the bald eagle preserve. It is a strip of land between a river and the mountains and in the fall, as many as 3500 eagles come here. The port is ice free and they come for the climate and the fish. Unfortunately, we didn't see any wildlife on this visit, but it was an enjoyable drive. We did see an old cemetery along the road and nothing that identified it, so I will have to investigate that a bit. We drove out to the Roadhouse 33 and had lunch, then turned around and headed back into town.

Once back in town, we went out the other direction to the Chilkat State Park. Getting there was a bit tricky. Once you get off the main road in Alaska, there are dirt roads. . . and worse, NON-maintained roads. But it wasn't too bad and on the way back there we did see eagles. We saw one group which may have been a family. There were two adults and three juveniles. Pretty awesome. We wandered back to a camp host cabin and enjoyed the view from his deck. There were two glaciers visible, one called Rainbow Glacier that had a large waterfall at the bottom.

We drove back into town and passed through the Ft. Seward grounds. This was a fort and when it was abandoned, it was purchased by some veterans who have maintained it and use the buildings for many different things. It has been declared a national historic site.

Tomorrow we are heading to Juneau. We may do a little more sightseeing in the morning.

Till next time. . .

Dale