Spent some extra time in Haines, there really is a lot to see
there. There are a lot of shops with native crafts, picture, and artifacts.
This is the home of the Chilkat Blankets -- their price is way, way
out of my range, but I sure admire them.
Rev. 08/29/01
Alaska & beyond - continued 8/28 - 8/29
Haines, AK to Teslin YT to Dease Lake BC
Spent some extra time in Haines, there really is a lot to see
there. There are a lot of shops with native crafts, picture, and artifacts.
This is the home of the Chilkat Blankets -- their price is way, way
out of my range, but I sure admire them.
There are a lot of bald eagles in the Haines area. I was able to get some pretty good picture of one. I'd read, that even though their eyes are as large as a human's eye, they could not move it. Like an owl, they have to turn their head to focus on something -- and, like an owl, they can turn their head clear around backwards (see the inset). This guy just sat there, just looking around, for the longest time while I moved around, trying to get better shots of him.
The Bald Eagle Foundation is located in Haines. They have an excellent exhibit, in a diorama form, of animals of Alaska. I was lucky to listen to a biologist explain each of the animals, land as well as aquatic, and it's relation to others and to the total environment.
One interesting question he posed to the audience was, what animal eats the greatest percent of the meat in Alaska? The answer, surprisingly, is not the bear or the wolf, but the lowly raven. A flock to them will distract a bear and steal bites of meat from an animal the bear has killed. With the shear number of ravens, it take a lot of meat to feed them all.
Another interesting tidbit -- a grizzly's sense of smell is so great, they can smell a dead moose, killed by an avalanche and buried under the snow, ten miles away. A polar bear's sense of smell is even greater.
Leaning
against the building where natives carve totem poles was this carved panel.
It tells a story, which I can not fully read. But besides being
carved into a panel, a story like this can be painted on a house, woven into
a blanket, or carved on a totem pole. To me, their art forms are amazing.
This totem of the killer whale marks the Haines Police and Fire
Department's building.
The weather report, over one of my CB channels, was that a major storm was developing in the gulf of Alaska. It would hit with torrential rain, gale force winds, and high waves.
I didn't like the sounds of it. It is only 13 miles from Haines to Skagway by water, but 359 miles by road. So decided, before it hit, to take the ferry to Skagway and head inland. Didn't want to be storm bound in Haines for a number of days, and didn't want to make the ferry crossing in a storm.
Found out that all the big tour ships had the same concern.
One that usually spends only four hours in Haines, tied up to the wharf,
and the passengers said they were going to be there for a day or two.
Haines has a population of 2300, so the extra people pleased the merchants
but did not overwhelm the town.
The Skagway ferry left at 12:45 pm, and took about an hour crossing.
When we pulled into the dock at Skagway, there were four huge
cruise ships moored there, all seeking a safer port.
Skagway has a population of 816. Each of these large cruise ships carries about a thousand passengers. With four in port at the same time, that meant about four thousand people milling around in tiny Skagway.
I took one look at the jammed main street of the little town
-- four thousand people in a one thousand town -- no way to drive through
that crowd. So took a side street my GPS map showed -- and got the
heck out of "Dodge" as quick as possible.
The road north, the only road, climbs up over White Pass. White Pass and Chilkoot Pass were the only routes out of Skagway for the miners, in the 1898 gold rush, to get to the Yukon gold "diggins."
The engineer in me was fascinated by this special suspension bridge, part way up to the pass. It spans a major geologic fault which can be seen running along the mountain side. The design of the bridge anchors it to only one side. Movement of the fault will not destroy the bridge.
Over the pass and down the road a few miles I detected something
moving -- out came the camera -- "snap" -- I got a picture of a fox -- I
think, or maybe a young wolf, along side the road. Fox should have
a white tip on it's tail, this has a black tip -- darn, wish I could tell
just what it was.
Took the Tagish Road, instead of going into Whitehorse. Most of it was paved, and all of it was good, without any truck traffic.
Drove
as far as Teslin YT. Ate dinner there. It was getting late.
Decided I'd gone far enough for the day, so got a spot in the RV park
there. And what did I run into -- my nemesis from way up at Eagle Plains
on the Dempster Highway -- the Big Red Bus. No ravens around
to rip open the garbage bag open this time.
The next morning looked pretty good, broken cloud and all.
My plan was to drive to Watson Lake YT, pick up some groceries and
then go back to the Cassiar Highway and go south part way to Dease Lake BC
and camp for the night -- easy day.
As usual, part of my plan worked. I did go to Watson Lake,
and did get groceries. Also saw the "Sign Forest" there at Watson Lake
-- couldn't miss it, its huge. This picture is only a small part ,
maybe a tenth of it.
And then I did start south down the Cassiar Highway. I needed to pick up a fishing license for British Columbia. Stopped at Good Hope Lake, a little Indian village just across the Yukon - BC boarder on the Cassiar. No, she didn't sell them, but Moose Meadows did -- on to Moose Meadows, "I'm all out of them. Sold my last one yesterday. Closest place is 'Trader Joe' in Dease Lake" -- on to Dease Lake.
Then it started to rain. So much for fishing, but I finally did get my license.
We'll see what tomorrow brings.