Mike & Jimmie

Tuesday September 1, 2009..Kluane Lake, Yukon

Happy Birthday Stephen Bess!!!

I awaken with the sounds of the waves just outside my window. The wind is strong and it has gently rocked our little home all night long. I sit up in bed and look out the window and marvel at the beauty as the sun peeps out from the mountains and the clouds over Lake Kluane. How GREAT is this?

We continue south this morning with bright sunshine and bright spirits to match. We are about an hour or so from "the most confusing intersection". This is where I took the only nap in the car in 07 & Mikey took the only wrong turn. I have to keep reminding him of this (sorry). Today the wrong turn in 07 will be the right turn for 09.

The views continue to amaze & delight us.

We stop for a brief hike down a trail that leads to Million Dollar Falls. Mikey is skeptical about what they call waterfalls up here, some a just a small trickle of water down a mountain, but this is not too tall but very rapid. I could not imagine anyone trying to go down this!

We continue heading south on the Haines Highway that leads to the intercostal town of Haines, Alaska. This is one of several towns on the Lynn Canal that links the Capital, Juneau, with surrounding smaller towns like Haines & Skagway. Like many places we've been in Alaska, there's one road in and 1 road out (about 150 miles).

The Lynn Canal is an inlet (not an artificial canal) into the mainland of southeast Alaska.
The Lynn Canal runs about 90 miles & at over 2,000 feet in depth, the Lynn Canal is the deepest fjord in North America and one of the deepest and longest in the world.

Know what a Fjord is? I didn't til I came to Alaska.

Fjords are formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Many such valleys were formed during the recent ice age. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice load and eroded sediment is remove. In some cases this rebound is faster than sea level rise. Most fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea

We cross from the Yukon Territory, into British Columbia before coming across the US border. This agent was more interested in knowing if we were carrying any firewood with us. Of course he did ask about handguns when he found out we are from TN. The sign at the US border welcomes us to the US and Haines (The valley of eagles).

There is a bald eagle refuge just about 20 miles from the town. We stop at a pull out, pop up the camper and cook a little lunch. We enjoy our treats on a picnic table as we watch the eagles watch the river for fish. It's really great to see so many eagles. They migrate to Haines in the fall, but I guess a few of them came in early to greet us. THANK YOU!

Just a bit farther down the river we see an unusual fishing device. Doesn't seem quite sporting does it? I walk down and listen to what appears to be some official type game warden measuring Sockeye Salmon and throwing them back in.

When we get to town this is what we see! WOW!

We stop first at the visitors information station and get the low down on this little town. We check into Ocean Side RV park (by the water of course). Then we head done to Chilkoot Lake, per advice of the visitors center to see the Salmon running. And YES we see fish. Then we see this big boy come out the woods just across the river from us. We watch him for quite some time as he plays on the fallen tree, plays with a few fish and wonders carelessly from our sight. OH MY!

Back at camp, we run into 2 couples that stayed near us at Kluane Lake last night. They are also a Ocean side, just a couple spots from us. They are from Michigan on their 3 trip to Alaska. They fly in and rent a motor home for a couple of weeks.

Mikey & I go to dinner at the Lighthouse restaurant just beside our camp and order a delicious meal. While our food was arriving, someone called out "bear". There was a fully grown grizzly walking down the beach in front of us. He walked out on the floating dock at the harbor and up the rock walkway. Needless to say, I left my food and we out to see the bear! This guy had on a radio collar and a tag in his ear. This told me he was being observed probably due to bear mischief. I don't get too close, but he is fun to watch. A family dog out for a walk on the pier sees the bear and goes nuts barking. I guess bears don't like dogs & off he goes back down in front of the beach where our RV is parked. Back to my cold pasta, but it was worth it.

After dinner we are invited to ride with our new friends up to the creek where we had been earlier to look for bears. Mike, Connie, Barry & Beth drive their motor home to the river with us tagging along. Do we see bears....YES!!!!

Bears, Bears & more Bears. We get to see about 8 more bears and lots more eagles & salmon. TOO COOL!