If I Were Going...: Unexpected Delight: Haines

Haines is an idyllic location

Haines, which took a long drive through eastern Alaska and the Yukon to reach, was an unexpected delight that was a bit slow in revealing itself.

The second time Alaska welcomed us

Admittedly, we did not do a great deal of research about what we wanted to see along the route. That was for many reasons.

Map: Haines Alaska Convention & Visitors Bureau

First, we (or, at least, Scott) had already been many of the places we were visiting.

Second, we weren’t sure what we’d actually be doing (for example, I had planned to go more slowly and get out of the car more often.

I should have known that our main purpose is looking for bears and nothing is worth doing if “the light is bad”).

Good light can be sunny or moody; it depends on what is being photographed

Third, we couldn’t anticipate the weather (hiking in rain and mosquitoes is really not that fun).

Fog, rain, mist, snow, foggy rain, rainy snow, misty fog; Alaska has it all

Our "bible"

And, fourth, we had guidebooks to study along the way – mainly the MILEPOST (for which I very briefly did PR ages ago).

Well, the MILEPOST will tell you every gravel patch and turnout, but not a lot about good scenery or animal sighting possibilities.

And, almost every local guidebook is based on “the ship people.” In other words, they list only places the folks on the big cruise ships like or can reach by shuttle or foot.

Haines is a big cruise ship stop

So, back to Haines….

A pretty view of the town

We drove down from Haines Junction in the early morning through spectacular scenery (although a bit rainy, foggy) and passed multiple piles of bear scat. Didn’t see a single bear!

Some pre-trip research

Anyway, although, technically I had been to Haines, it was just for a float trip during our first small ship cruise, so I hadn’t seen much.

Scott had done an afternoon photo trip, so he had a bit more info.

And, I had just finished reading If You Lived Here, I Would Know Your Name by Heather Lende about life in Haines (lots of weather, scenery, community togetherness and tragic accidents).

Interestingly, Heather's daughter's picture was in the paper while we were there.

Haines is famous for eagles and you drive through the National Bald Eagle Preserve to get to town. Yep, there are eagles – LOTS of them. We were counting sightings until Haines, where we saw dozens.

This one was near the welcome sign

Then, we decided that eagles are like Bison in Yellowstone: too many to keep track of.

Raising new Eagles

The touristy part

The town is small and a bit rundown (in other words, Alaskan). Spectacular scenery and rusting cars; you just can’t beat it.

Coming off what I had planned as four days of camping, we had opted to stay in a hotel instead of camp again.

The concept was pretty good: we stayed in the historic Halsingland Hotel that has a fascinating story. The U.S. built Fort Seward in the 1890s to deal with border skirmishes with the Canadians (yes!) brought on by the gold rush. It operated as an army post until 1938 when it was decommissioned and scheduled to be razed.

Then and now

A group of investors/patriots who hated to see such a grand historic site (and it IS very impressive sitting on the hill facing the Lynn Canal backed by 5,000 foot mountains - don’t scoff, Coloradans, that’s 5,000 feet from sea level) bought the fort sight unseen to save it. Parts became private homes, apartments, a museum and the hotel.

The historic hotel

Unfortunately, it’s a bit threadbare and we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the heat. And, we had booked an extra night because we were ahead of schedule.

Once we got settled, we headed to Chilkoot Lake (nine miles from town, lots of local tours take folks there). Scott remembered it as a good bear-viewing site – there is a weir in the stream that empties into the canal where they (I think University of Alaska) count all the salmon that run up the river.

The weir

Unfortunately, there were a few disappointments:

The lake is gorgeous and the campground beside it, which was almost empty, was the most beautiful, magical campground I have ever seen. And, we had a room we couldn't dump!

We could be here!

Who knew camping slots would be available right before the Fourth of July. I was kicking myself all afternoon.

There was almost no salmon, which, of course, meant no bears (lots of scat; we think Haines is where bears go to poop).

There were woods; no bears

Then, we wandered somewhat aimlessly, going back and forth to the lake and looking for something interesting.

Who would have guessed?

That evening, I started to feel a cold coming on. So, I crawled into bed (in a rather chilly room) with a big box of tissues.

Oddly, I really would have preferred “my bed” – the Little Guy, which is much cozier than the Halsingland.

We were ready to write Haines off as a disappointment.

On July 3, I was feeling pretty crummy and Scott was pretty disappointed, so we drove around and discovered some roads we hadn’t driven. Keep in mind, these towns often have less than 50 miles of actual road.

Off the beaten path

The maps don’t show detail outside the “cruise perimeter” and no one says “go there.”

Pleasant surprises just out of town

WOW!!! We ended up in Chilkat State Park with a spectacular view of the Davidson Glacier and its raging waterfall (we think clouds had obscured it the day before – Haines is cloudy).