Haines Junction to Haines

King's Throne on Kathleen Lake

I'd really like to do this trip justice, but I'm afraid if I wait that long, I'll never finish. So, since I'm not a perfectionist...here we go.

Saturday morning we left Haines Junction early but first we stopped at the combined Library / Liquor store. Daddy X used to say there are two things to do in Alaska in the winter: read or drink. The Yukon is so efficient, they made it a one stop shop.

Then we swung past the Senior Drop-in Center which used to be the weigh station and winter check-in station. Back in 1963 the Haines road opened for the winter for the first time. Travelers would stop at check-in stations with their name and information. Their information was passed on to the next station and if you didn't arrive in a reasonable amount of time, the mounties would come looking for you.

Our next stop was Kathleen Lake. We had heard there was a beautiful hike here up to the King's throne. It was a lovely morning so we took a little stroll. Mr. X and I will have to come back to finish the hike.

Next we stopped near Lake Dezadeash for a quick walk up to the rock glacier. This is a rock/gravel formation left over from a dead glacier. It was pretty amazing how it was shaped...and the view breathtaking.

It was another nice little hike. I spotted some big tracks in the leaves, but we didn't see any other signs of bears in the area.

Million Dollar Falls

Can you tell we are approaching tideland? The sky got progressively dark as we drove along. But the fall colors came back in brilliance. This place is buried under yards of snow in the winter - and is perfect for snowmobiling. Not that I know anything about that.

We decended out of the mountains and re-entered the United States. Mr. X was in the driver's seat so he had the pleasure of answering the agent's questions -- he and Mom gave the guy our travelogue. The guy had recently transferred from Skagway so he pretended to be interested in our Golden Circle trip.

Again we forgot about the time change going back to Alaska; we had an extra hour to kill.

We stopped at this lake to take pictures of trumpeter swans.

Went out of our way to stop at Mosquito Lake

Saved a drowning dragon fly.

Hung out with birdwatchers at the Bald Eagle Preserve.

Then we headed into town, and to the Chilkat lake where everyone and their brother were out fly fishing with really long poles. One guy stood on the edge of the road and had his pole over his shoulder while watching other anglers. He didn't realize his pole was so long it was blocking the entire road. I politely meep-meeped (with my voice) and he laughed at his faux pas.

We checked in at the ferry and they told us we could leave for another hour since the boat wasn't in yet. We headed back to Haines to see the old fort - we didn't find much - the hammer museum, library, and the IGA. Finally we found a place with ice cream! It was even reasonably priced. Mom had abandoned her cane so Mr. X took off running down the street with it like some pompous gentlemen, but it sure stopped traffic. Nobody wanted to run down the poor fool.

We boarded the Malaspina and ate dinner. The Malaspina is the sister-ship to the Taku which is the boat that Mr. X's dad rode while he lived in SE Alaska in the 60's. Both ships were inaugurated in 1963 and are still in service.

Although it's only a 4h30m hour trip back to Juneau, we got a stateroom so we could stretch out and catch some zzz (before 9 am church). We knew we were back in Juneau when we landed at midnight - it was raining cats and dogs.

Whitehorse (again) and Haines Junction

Thursday afternoon we headed back into town. Well, first we had to wait for Mr. X to change his pants and for he and Mom to de-fur their clothes and clean their shoes. Apparently, the dogs in the yard, were very excited to see them. Not sure how I got off so easy.

We bought Subway for lunch and although the wind was still blowing, it was warm, so we sat in the Peace park and then walked along the Yukon river, near the SS Klondike.

We also got the car washed. After driving the Atlin road, the car was pretty gross. I don't mind dust but the road crew had sprayed an anti-dust salt so the car was really grimey. Oh, and I had read about tranplanting invasive species by not frequently washing you car along the Alaska hwy. At the car wash I finally spent my Canadian money. Mr. X had given me C$10 nine years ago for Christmas because he know I was (supposed to be) going to Victoria with my mom; we took a different trip, so I'd been holding onto the cash for nearly a decade.

We also watched the Visitor Center movie and took Mr. X to Canadian Tire. For whatever reason that was the priority on his travel checklist. He was about as excited about it as REI or Cabelas. We had looked for short list Breyers at the grocery store and walmart and it was nowhere to be found. Disappointed, we went to McDonald's and were told their ice cream machine was broken -- on a day that was 75 degrees and everyone was out in tank tops!

In the late afternoon we took to the highway for the two hour drive to Haines Junction. This was probably the least scenic area that we drove through. Where before we felt like we were driving into an oil painting, this area was a little less inspiring - until we glimpsed the Kluane range.

Two elk herds are supposed to reside in this area, but we didn't see any. The only wildlife we spotted were a couple of ground squirrels.

When we arrived in Haines Junction, we found the Kluane Green Sprout easily enough, but we couldn't get in to the B&B. Our cell phones wouldn't work here. Fortunately, there was still a working pay phone at the defunct grocery store and we were able get ahold of the caretaker and get a code to get in the door.

The Kluane Green Sprout is a beautiful, modern building. The bottom floor of the building appears to be an aparment, the second floor houses a granite tile entry, bathroom with washer and dryer and two comfortable bedrooms (one queen, one full). We were glad for the washer and dryer. Our dog clothes needed a double rinse.

On the third floor is a full kitchen stocked with all the utencils needed for cooking, plus cereals, muffin mixes, spices, oils, coffee, teas, peanut butter, jams, popcorn. In the fridge we found fruit for smoothies, eggs, and the next day we received fresh bread, creamer, and juice.

In the living room, the top of the wall is cut out and a "picture window" installed; this window perfectly frames the mountains towering over town. They provided plenty of magazines as well as some Kluane hiking guides which Mr. X used to plan our next two days.

Golden Circle

Map source:  http://www.hpw.gov.yk.ca/pdf/roadmap.pdf

We are just back from our Golden Circle road trip, and it was golden. Okay, so we had a few casualties - two forks and a bottle of contact solution - but other than that it was fantastic.

The Golden Circle route officially is 379 miles on the South Klondike Highway, Alaska Highway and Haines road. We added 471 miles of side trips and Tagish road, Atlin Road, and North Klondike Highway for a total of 850 miles. Stay tuned for stunning photos and B&B reviews. Oh, and explanations for why Mr. X was seen traipsing through Haines with a cane, why we petted 100 dogs, and just how tough it is to find ice cream in the Yukon in September.