Valdez to Haines

After seven very enjoyable days in Valdez, it’s time to move on to our next destination, Haines. The trip from Valdez to Haines is a mere 700 miles which takes us back into the Yukon for a day. To start, it was back up the Richardson Highway past the Worthington Glacier and the Wrangle-St.Elias National Park. You talk about scenery; passing through this park is breathtaking… The park is North America’s largest and most spectacular mountain wilderness. It encompasses more than 20,000 square miles and has nine of the sixteen highest peaks in the United States. It also contains the largest glacier system in the country; where one glacier, the Malaspina Glacier, is larger than the state of Rhode Island and is the largest non-polar piedmont glacier in North America. Again, the scenery through this park can’t be adequately described, you have to be here to appreciate all the beauty (Don’t forget your jacket). I know some of these facts are repeats from a previous posts; however, riding along viewing these mountains and glaciers we just couldn’t help repeating ourselves. Enough about the park, now on with our trip as we continue on the Richardson Highway eagerly looking for a shortcut to Haines. One thing we have learned while traveling in Alaska is there are no shortcuts, most places have one road in and the same road out. We reached Glennallen, AK early in the afternoon where we changed our course toward the Alaska Highway and the Yukon. After traveling several miles on the Alaska Highway we decided to stop for the night just before entering Canada at Eagle Trail State Recreation Site which is a very nice state park located on a lake which has no charge for camping.

This is really a poplar park. People must be like us and really liked the price because it filled up fast. I’m sure glad we stopped when we did! After a good night’s sleep and some breakfast we were on the road again entering the Yukon before lunch. The next few hours or so from the entrance into Canada through Destruction Bay was beautiful; however, the driving was a challenge. The area through this part of the Yukon is virtually nothing but permafrost which is a major challenge trying to drive the roads. Gravel, dirt, broken payment and dips and humps are common on this part of the highway. However, if you slow down and enjoy what's around you it's not so bad...

After miles and miles of beautiful scenery we located a beautiful campground on a very large lake, Kluane Lake. Kluane Lake is the largest lake in the Yukon covering 154 square miles bordered by the Ruby Range mountains. This lake is 400 feet deep in areas and in the winter it becomes one of the Yukon's top winter recreation areas. Ice fishing, skating, hockey and even car racing are just some of the winter activities enjoyed on the lake.

Canada has so many of these parks along the Alaska Highway that are all well maintained and a great place to spend the night for a reasonable price, $10 - $15 per night. Most all of these parks have very clean vault toilets, picnic tables, fire pits with free firewood, dump stations and a place to fill up with water. After another good night’s rest we were off to Haines Junction where we fueled up for ---- and stopped for some fresh pastries (this is starting to be habit forming) and then onto the Haines Highway for approximately 155 miles to Haines. This is another scenic highway with several nice provincial parks usually on a large lake or fast flowing river. There are snow capped mountains, waterfalls, and glaciers on this winding and twisting road into Haines. As we arrived in Haines, it was time to find a new home. The first three nights we settled for a nice campground located right on the water at the end of Main Street in Haines.

The price for the campground was $36 per night if you had a Good Sam Membership and $40 per night without the membership. We were able to walk downtown to the grocery store, restaurants, library and gift shops. We had beautiful views of the water and the boat docks. In our travels around Haines, we located another campground that was on the Chilkoot River near an area where the Grizzly Bears come out every night to feed. This was a small private campground also with beautiful water views and mountains with waterfalls beyond the water. In fact, our last night we set on our porch and watched a mother grizzly and her three cubs feed.

Some of the beautiful scenery along the Richardson Highway in the Wrangle - St. Elias National Park.

Construction on the highway between Glenallen, AK. and the Yukon. Believe it or not, these gravel roads below are wide and very smooth in most places along this stretch of the highway.

Our camp site at Eagle Lake

Views from Eagle Trail Campground

Some views from the Alaska Highway headed south toward Haines Junction.

After completing the Alaska Highway, this gentleman must have refused to get off of his equipment.

This was one of several signs in the Congdon Creek campground where we spent our second night enroute to Haines

Our campsite at Congdon Creek campground

Nothing like sitting around a hot fire on a cool night. S'mores made the night complete

Only a 155 miles to go I think???

A church in Haines Junction

Another nice campground we enjoyed walking around and viewing the falls. It is unbelievable how fast the water is moving down these mountains

One of several falls in the campground

several scences on the Haines Highway just outside of Haines

One of several fish wheels in operation along the river

And some not so good scenes on the Haines Highway. We traveled approximately five miles in this fog or clouds or whatever. Believe me, on these roads we were glad to get off this mountain and into Haines...