Pickle Power: Alaska Trip

July 19 – 21, 2018

Kluane Lake

From Valdez, we drove north on highway 1 to Tok, stopping on the way at Wrangell-Mt. Elias National Park Visitor Center. Next door, the displays in the Ahatna Cultural Center centered on the important role that salmon played in the lives of the local Athabaskan tribes throughout their history.

Our stop in Tok for gas and groceries was our second time there, so in a way it completed our irregular “circle” round Alaska.

From Tok, the road (#2) heads southeast to Haines Junction, leaving Alaska on the way for the Yukon Territory. A highlight on that stretch was Kluane Lake (in the Yukon,) a very large glacier-fed lake that is now rapidly receding (20 feet in 2 years) due to a shrinking glacier changing course and creating zero run-off into the lake. Near the lake we stopped at Thachal Dhal Visitor Center (Sheep Mountain) The slopes of very large hills behind the center are the winter grazing area for hundreds of Dal sheep that live in the Kluane National Park.

Between Haines Junction and Haines, we stopped along the side of the road to watch 2 juvenile golden eagles soaring above us with their white spotted wings and white on their tails. That was a first!

Chilkot Lake

After driving back into Alaska, just outside of Haines on the Chilkat River, we stopped at the Bald Eagle Preserve. Many eagles nest in the area and are especially visible in late fall after their young have fledged and they are gathering before migrating. I spotted four eagles perched in trees above the river, and then 3 in another area, and then 2 in a different location. They’re around.

We spent 2 nights in Haines, AK. We decided to try to get a spot on the car ferry that runs from Haines to Skagway, 15 miles across the narrow inlet of the upper Lynn Canal. From Skagway we could drive north on the Klondike highway to Carcross and the Alaska Highway instead of driving back out of Haines on the same road we drove to get there. We found out we could get a stand-by ticket for a crossing in two days, so we decided to take our chances on that.

We camped our first night in Haines at Chilkat Lake State Rec Site. The road into the Campground runs along the beautifully aqua Chilkat River where lots of fishermen in chest high waders stood in the water casting their lines.

The next day we moved to Oceanside RV Park, a private RV parking lot right on Portage Cove on Haines’ waterfront. The weather cleared, and the sun came out, revealing the mountains that enclosed the very calm cove. We had a perfect afternoon for sitting and watching the pair of belted kingfishers who hung out near us and the bald eagles that frequented that side of the cove. The next day we toured the town, drove the water front roads that extend out from the town, bought salmon at a fish processing plant and, following Nina’s ever friendly lead, got to know our camping neighbors from Germany. In fact, we rode the ferry with them to Skagway on Friday and camped with them that night at Conrad Yukon Government Campground near Carcross.