Haines, AK Chilkoot Lake State Park, day 1

Day 59, Friday August 12, 2016                              Haines, AK         Chilkoot Lake State Park
219 towing miles            11.4 mpg

We took time to have a fire with our coffee this morning.  That free firewood is too good to pass up.  It was still very breezy this morning with whitecaps on the lake.  We were on our way at 09:10.

We hadn’t gone two miles and we stopped at a pullover to take pictures.  From the moment we left until we arrived in Haines, the scenery was breathtaking.  We took many picture stops.

These are our photos from our campground to Haines Junction.  The Alaskan Highway followed the shores of Kluane Lake for the first half hour of our drive.  The mountains to our right were the St. Elias mountains.  We saw ice fields and some glaciers.

Blue sky over the south end of Kluane Lake.  Taken the morning we left.

Some of the shrubs and the aspens and poplar are turning yellow.

Another shot from the rest area right down the road from the campground.

Taken from the same rest area. 

Parked at the rest area..

Looking opposite the lake.

These are some neat looking clouds.

The lake is very low and the end of it has exposed,

dried, mud flats that create dust storms in the brisk wind.

Sometimes the clouds are more interesting than the mountains.

This is the sign in the town of Haines Junction where the

Alaska Highway and the Haines Highway come together.

At Haines Junction, we stopped for Canadian gas.  I put 84 litres (Canadian spelling) in the tank for $100 CAD.  In Canada, the pay at the pump card readers read the chip.  You don’t swipe.  Canadians and the rest of the developed world have been using chips in their credit cards for years and don’t accept cards without them.  It also asks what the maximum amount you wish to charge.  I told it $100, thinking that was good enough and it stopped at $100.  My gas tank was 7/8 full.  It was one of those gas stations that have just pumps, no attendants.  We have seen them now and then in Canada.  There was one I used in Ft. Collins, CO. but that’s the only one I’ve ever seen in the U.S.

Followed the Haines Highway south to Haines.   Went through Yukon, British Columbia, and then back into Alaska.  Saw lots of terrain, rocks, mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and different trees.  There was a lot of diversity, but all of it was great scenery.

Haines Junction

Another big lake we passed by.

Much of the road in the British Columbia was above tree line.

Had to go through US customs to enter Alaska again.  This was 39 miles north of Haines.

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We saw two of these fish-wheels in the river on the way in to Haines.

We stopped at the Visitor Center in Haines, but they were closed, but was going to reopen at 2:00.  It was 1:45 and we didn’t feel like hanging around.  We were worried about finding a spot at our campground so we headed out.

The campground is 9 miles north of Haines along a road that follows the Lutak Inlet.  We went by the Alaska Ferry Haines terminal four miles north of town.  Chilkoot Lake connects with the Lutak Inlet by a large stream about a mile long.  There is a weir in the river to stop salmon.  Below the weir were lots of native people fishing in the river.  Their pickup campers were parked all along the access road. 

The campground is in a rain forest.  Lots of moss on the ground and everything is damp.  Kind of like it was in the Cascades, but not quite as wet as it was there.  It is a very pretty campground.

Our campsite at Chilkoot Lake State Park.

We took a walk down to the lake and there were about six anglers with spinning rods casting into the lake.  The boat launch ramp is not to far from where the river exits the lake.  There was quite a few fish that were splashing the surface.  One of the anglers caught a pink salmon.  On the river, right at the exit was a guy with a fly rod catching dollies, and he lost a few salmon.  I would have liked to fish but it was somewhat of a zoo.  There were two eagles on the opposite shore watching the whole thing.

Back at the ranch I cooked up some boneless chicken breasts with some Sweet Baby Ray’s (not Sweet Baby James, as I said a few days ago.  That was a James Taylor album).

We’re going to stick around for another day.  Visit Haines, go out to dinner, and launch the canoe if the weather is right.