Our plan is to catch the ferry in Haines and head south through what’s known as the Inside Passage. The ferry is booked for the 8th and we are now pretty beelining for Haines. We left Tok a little later than we would have liked to ( I have never been a morning person and that still hasn’t changed!) Anyway, we fueled up, stopped at the supermarket for some snacks to keep us going and set Of on our 400kms day journey. 150kms into the trip and we wereat the Canadian border. Easy crossing as expected and back into Yukon, this will be the 5th time we hop the US / Canada border, becoming a bit of a routine now. Another 30 kms and we are in Beaver Creek, time to take on some more fuel, the good kind (Alaska only has low octane fuel and he bikes run terrible on that stuff), Zoe stopped at the visitor center and got the local camping map and we were off again. The road along the Kluane national park is stunning with many glaciers flowing down the steep mountains on our west. On the east side we see vast pine forests and ponds. We desperately look for beavers but apart from the occasional beaver lodge, no sign of the actual animal. We stopped to have some snacks at a beautiful lake, stretch our legs and backs, (the road was quite rough yesterday and today) and carry on.
The rough section under construction along the Alaska highway
The Alaska – Yukon border. All trees are cleared all along the length of the border!
Stretching our legs at Pickhandle lake
We are trying to cover about 400kms today, that will put us half way to Haines. We have heard there is some bear action in Haines so we want to get there and see them. We eventually get to Destruction Bay where we found a lodge to stop for dinner and ask about camping. Lucky for us there is a campsite just 15kms down the road. The campsite has a special tent section surrounded by a bearproof electric fence as an experiment, I think it’s a brilliant idea since you don’t have to worry about having food or anything that smells like food near the tent. We set up camp in our enclosure and head down to the lake, beautiful spot… we took a quick bath in the frigid water to wash away the sweat of the day… Boy it gets hot in Alaska and Yukon! The sunset over the lake was spectacular, later on a full moon rised and the scenery just kept on getting better! We eventually went to bed at 23:00 local time (we lost an hour going across the border).
A beautiful sunset over the Kluane Lake by Destruction Bay camp ground
Another far from early start and off again. We were only 100kms from Haines Junction where we planned to stop for brunch. The scenery along the way was just as stunning as the previous day. In Haines Junction we found “The Village Bakery” where we stopped for food and it was a great lucky find! Great coffee and delicious food! I guess we are back in Canada where they value food more than ‘things’! Zoe picked up some treats for the road and after a fuel top off we are off again.
The Village Bakery in Haines Junction
Along the way the scenery just kept on getting better! More glaciers, closer to the road, steep hills, hardly any traffic, streams, rivers, beaver lodges (still no beavers) and a good road. About 50kms from Haines we cross the boarder back into Alaska. The US officials were really nice and we got through in a matter of minutes. From there we followed the Chilkat river with its rafters and Bald Eagles and found ourselves in Haines. From there it was another 15kms to the Chilkoot lake camp site. We were told there was a good chance of seeing bears and before we even got to the camp we spotted a bunch of people with cameras, a sure sign of bears! We went straight to the camping to make sure we could secure a spot for the coming 2 nights, found an nice place and built our home for the night. It wasn’t long before 2 young grizzlies came running through the campground… Food will definitely go into the food storage lockers tonight! Once we were settled we went back to the weir on the river to see if there was still some action. Sure enough we found a saw and a cub and further down the river the 2 young bears we believe to be the ones from earlier in the campsite. We spent close to an hour taking pictures of the bears catching salmon before they eventually took off into the woods again. From there we took the scenic ride into town in the hope to find 1/grocery store 2/showers 3/a place to have a beer. We failed at 1&2 but we got the beer, with wifi from where I am writing this post.
We made it to Haines with a day and half to spare so plenty of time to see some more bears and look around the area.
Glaciers up ahead along the road to Haines
Amazing scenery on the way south to Haines
Rotating fish trap on the Chilkat river
Our route to Haines, B Valdez, C Tok, D campsite near Destruction Bay and finally Haines.
Low tide at Haines Harbour
Moose Meadows in the Chilkat state park
From there we headed back into town to have a bite to eat at the delicious Mountain Market deli, picked up some yummy organic food for dinner and went to the local micro brewery to try some of their brews. A few tasty beverages later and it was time to go back for dinner. We cooked our dinner by the lake front picnic area, no bears but still a nice place to eat.
Our last day in Haines was spent sourcing straps to tie down our motorcycles on the ferry, have breakfast at the Mountain Market Deli, fill up on spring water (we found a road side spring used by many locals) pack up and look for bears.
At the spring
Bears were pretty active today and we spent a lot of time watching them. There were two sub-adult grizzly Cubs playing in the meadow by the river, they are still abit confused without mum around! Lucky for us they came up the river right underneath the bridge so we were able to watch them very close without indruding on their space. Another quick run into town to fuel up, have lunch and snacks for the ferry ride, another run by the bear place where we saw Speedy, the famous bear whose Cubs we watched earlier, then onto the ferry. The ferry was a bit late, it took quite a bit of time building the car puzzle in the car deck, we had to move our bikes to allow more cars in… I wasn’t 100% pleased with the tiedown situation down here having to use neighbouring cars and luggage carts to strap to… fingers crossed all will go well.
2 young grizzlies trying their luck at fishing
A bit of wildlife watching in Chilkoot river outlet
Our Uber has arrived! Ferry from Haines to Juneau
Our bikes strapped to a few cars and a luggage cart, not the best!
TA
Well hello there ! Nice to see you back and happy to follow you guys again !
You did quite some distance lately passing nice sceneries and tracking bears ! Lovely video of the bears indeed ! We rarely see them on Tv the way you did ! I can imagine how it feels like when you see them so close !
The bikes in the boat aren’t safely tight up I can see that … but I guess the weather was calm and everything went well in the end.
It’s nice to wake up and read your lovely stories. A good way to start my day.
Keep u’s delivering pieces of your fantastic tour !
So, you got back to writing it all up for posterity!
These days were about bears and glaciers, not too many beavers and the Canadian food quality.
Is there really such a difference in quality with the US?
Now come the days of ferry and ride, more or less relaxed?
Good to read you, keepwell!
Baci