Rev. 08/26/01
Alaska & beyond - continued 8/25 - 8/26
Valdez to Destruction Bay YT to Haines, AK
In a lot of ways, I hated to leave Valdez. One thing in
particular, it had given me some of the best fishing in my life.
When I pulled out, at 6:00 am, it was fog bound. Climbing
the Richardson Highway, I came out the fog, and looked back at that sea of
fog that held Valdez in it's depths -- a breathtaking sight.
About
ninety miles north of Valdez, I turned off on the road to Chitina. That
early in the morning, the view of Mt Wrangle, 14,163 feet high, was clear.
It is an active volcano and one name the Indians have for it is The
Smoking Mountain. The view of the crater is very clear.
Further
down the road I got a great view of Mt. Blackburn, 16,523 feet high, higher
than Mt. Wrangle, and you can clearly see the ice field on it -- it almost
looks like just a bank of clouds.
I'd never seen these mountains this clear.
Driving on down to Chitina, I turned east on the Chitina River road and crossed the bridge across the Copper River. Upstream from the bridge were the salmon wheels.
This basic design has been used by the natives for centuries,
the origin going way back into ancient legends. Basically these have
two baskets and two paddles. They are moored in the river about ten
feet or so from the bank. The current, acting on the paddles and the
baskets, turns the wheel continually. If a salmon swims up, he is scooped
up by the basket, and as it rises, he is slid into a box or a sack net on
the side. And the wheel just keeps on turning.
Periodically someone goes out to check the catch. Each wheel is licensed and numbered and has the owners name on it.
Originally I'd planned to go on out the Chitina River Road to the Kennicott Copper Mine, but after a few miles, decided against it. One thing that gnaws on me about Alaska is the lack of public ownership, Forest Service or BLM, of land along rivers. There is more access in the western states than in Alaska. It seems everywhere I turned there was private property blocking river access. This is true about the Chitina River. When you get to the end of the road, you have to pay a guy $5 to just to park your car so you can hike up to the mine -- not the money, the principle -- no thanks!
Instead, I drove back to the main road, on up through Tok, and
started down into Canada -- back the route I'd originally taken coming into
Alaska.
That evening I stayed in Destruction Bay YT. The sunset was spectacular.
During the night I was awaken by the sound of a bear snuffling around my RT -- not a real comfortable feeling having one right outside -- would he try to come in?
The next morning it was cloudy and drizzling. There was a dusting of snow up on the mountains -- sure is time to head south.
After an early breakfast, I started down the road to Haines Junction. This stretch of road is being rebuilt, so the going was muddy and delayed a bit from time to time -- not bad though.
At Haines Junction I caught up with the large caravan of Airstream
trailers that left Valdez Friday morning. They were turning left, going
to Whitehorse, not down to Haines as I was.
Friday morning, listening to the CB chatter, I'd gathered they would spend the night in Tok. So asked Larry, who I gathered was their leader, where they were going after Tok. He told me Haines Junction, and then Whitehorse. I really didn't want to get behind a large caravan if I could avoid it -- CB comes in handy.
The route south of Haines Junction was a new road to me. It
goes though the Canadian Kluane National Park in YT, and then the
Tatshenshini-Alsek Prov. Park in BC.
Driving along, enjoying the scenery, something white caught my eye. Stopped, checked it with the binoculars -- sure enough, a pair of trumpeter swans way out in the marsh. The road was far enough from them, that they didn't seem to be aware of my presence as I got out of the RT and took a bunch of pictures.
Further down the road there was a sign, "Million Dollar Falls Campground." Curious, so I pulled in. There wasn't anything telling where it got it's name, but the fall were spectacular -- it'd cost a million to get one picture of the whole cataract -- it seems to go on for ever, down this narrow gorge. I never was able to see the bottom of it.
Some plants
there were starting to change to their fall colors -- yep, south I'd better
go.
At US Customs, the Customs Officer saw the GPS I had running in the RT and asked about it -- who I bought it from, what programs I used, what it cost. He was really interested and had a lot of questions. Then saw the little Canon Digital Elph I had, and the discussion switched to it. He said he was thinking of buying one, and wanted to know how I liked it. I told him the advantages and disadvantages of each of the two digital cameras I carry.
Ended
up spending quite a bit of time at US Customs. Finally traffic started
to back up and he had to let me go -- couldn't just keep the discussion
going any longer.
Driving down toward Haines, there was a road leading to the
Indian village of Klukwan -- so turned in. And there was a black bear
feeding on berries next to the road. I was never able to get a good
picture of him (took a dozen), he stayed pretty well hidden in the bushes.
The tribal meeting house in Klukwan was interesting. I like the way they keep pieces of their original culture in modern use.
This is right in the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. I looked for eagles but didn't see any. I'll have to take another look.
There were a number of turnout, and I stopped at several. One
told the story of the Indian legend of the Raven and the Eagle.
These posters were very informative, and well worth stopping at.
Further down, where the road runs along the Chilkat River, there
were several fish wheels turning. These only have three baskets, which
act both as paddles and as catch baskets. These have a catch net on
each side which the salmon are dropped into.
Haines area has a number of interesting attractions for me, so I'll spend a couple of days here.