| Campground: | hitch up RV park, Haines, site 66. |
| Total Distance: | 3570 Miles. |
| Traveled today: | 30 Miles. |
| Key highlights: | Ferry from Juneau to Haines, Haines Brewery, Kayaking on the Chilkoot Lake Biking from Chilkoot Lake to HWY Port Chilkoot Distilary |
The ferry from Juneau to Haines was brutal- it takes off at 0700 am and requires checking at 0500am, making it a 0400am wakeup. The good thing is that at 0400am in Alaska, there is full daylight – and it was easy to unhook the RV and get on the road on time. The Ferry staff did a masterful job again, helping me back in a while doing a hard right-hand turn into the ferry. The early morning sail was very peaceful (only one whale was spotted), and the view was great as before.
Upon arriving at Haines – we fell in love immediately. Haines is a piece of land stuck between 2 waterways – the Chilkat River on the west and the Lutak inlet on the east. While you could see the impact of 5 days of 80+ Farenhite (above 27C) on the amount of snow on the mountains, the benefit was roaring waterfalls and rivers full of water. The RV camp is modern, spaced out (compared to other RV parks), and with good views of the surrounding mountains. It was surprisingly very empty, leaving us a lot of room on our own. After spending one hour, we decided to extend our stay in this outdoor Disneyland for two nights (vs. the original plan of one night). While waiting for the visitor information to open- we headed to the local brewery that offers great locally crafted beers and sells only for cash. At 90 Farenhite, our best bet was to head to the Chilkoot lake and use our Kayak for the 2nd time. Again, seeing glaciers, and waterfalls while kayaking is excellent. We then moved to use our bikes for the first time- looking at the river; the salmon anglers were trying their luck. The big Salmon inlet into the lake is not expected for at least a week- that resulted with no bear sighting on this river.
To complete this fun day, we headed down to the local Port Chilkoot Distillery – after the cruise ship left the town – the locals crowded in this extraordinary place – the locally made alcohol (whiskey, Rum, Gin)- is of high quality. The cocktails were out of this world.
What a great day.