Haines, Alaska

We decided to spend 3 nights at the site leaving us two full days for Haines activities. Morning one consisted of checking out the Fjord Line Ferry schedule and after checking the weather signed up for a wildlife/ferry to Juneau on our second full day in Haines. After exploring a bit of town we drove back out to our campsite and went for a bike ride. There was a terrific headwind starting out, but once we turned around, we were blown back to the campground.

Our campsite is along a lake that flows into the Lynn Canal via a mile long river. The river gets plenty of salmon when they run, but as of now it’s too early for a salmon run. Thus, the bears in the area are feeding elsewhere. I get some camera gear out and head out to photograph an eagle nest along the river. I got a few shots but from considerable distance.

Next morning we got up and out early to catch the passenger ferry to Juneau. Traveling the 90 miles to Juneau takes about 4 hours depending on the amount of wildlife seen. I didn’t get any great photos, but we saw several Humpback Whales, Stellar’s Sea Lions, two Orcas, Harbor Seals, and several Eagles.

Juneau’s an interesting place. It has thirty some thousand people and outside of Anchorage, is one of the largest cities in Alaska. One cannot drive to Juneau. You arrive either by air or water and that’s it. The city center is compact and is within a few blocks of the pier. There are many shops and eateries all thriving on the very high tourist numbers. Currently, Juneau gets up to 23,000 new tourists each day with almost all of them coming by large cruise ship. Often Juneau sees 5 or 6 cruise ships each day. The city is negotiating with the cruise lines to limit visitors from the ships to 17,000 to 18,000 per day with many fewer on Saturdays. It appears this will commence in a couple of years.

Humpback Whale

Orca

We had a great lunch of shrimp and fish tacos then checked out many of the shops. At three thirty we headed back to the ferry and returned to Haines around 8 pm. The next morning, we headed out of town to begin our trip south towards the Pacific Northwest of the US.