On the ferry to Skagway…Never got there!

July 31, 2008

So we leave Juneau bound for Skagway on Tuesday. It’s a beautiful day, cruising northbound, through the Lynn Canal on the way to another cruise ship-invested Alaskan city. Skagway gets 5 ships per day except Friday and Saturday.

The Inside Passage up through Canada was excellent but the Lynn Canal from Juneau to Skagway is unbelievable. Thank God for digital cameras because I would have used several rolls of film on this afternoon trip alone. Whales, lighthouses, birds, tree-lined ridges, snow-capped mountains and glaciers galore. Our trip’s best scenery by far.


Photos: Lynn Canal
We have tickets to Skagway but we never get there. Pat meets a lady from Haines, Alaska on the ferry. Haines is the ferry stop before Skagway. We had originally planned to stop in Haines but had opted for Skagway instead. After talking to the Haines resident and being told that only 3 cruise ships stopped there each week, we decided to get off at the Haines stop. It was a good decision. Haines is a quaint town of about 1,800 full-time residents that survives on tourism and fishing. My buddy, Mark, would have been in heaven here because of the fly fishing. The river flowing from Chilkoot Lake even has a salmon counter that keeps up with the daily flow of fish through the river. When the count is up the fishermen arrive in number. Fly-fishing heaven.



We camped at the excellent Lake Chilkoot campground for 2 nights Wednesday we ate a picnic lunch on the beach at Chilkat State Park then went for a 3 mile hike. The trail wound through a dense forest before ended on the beach with a great view of the Davidson and Rainbow glaciers.





Wednesday night was a great campfire dinner; locally-caught Halibut steak sautéed in butter, olive oil, lemon juice and white wine and served with a large salad and white wine. Pat had a roaring fire going quickly.




Thursday after washing clothes at the Oceanview RV park we did a self-guided tour of downtown Haines. We stopped in at the Hammer Museum where they have 1,600 hammers on display.









The owner’s passion for hammers is evidenced by his enthusiasm. It was well worth the $3 entrance fee. One neat story was how the museum owner’s dog was saved when his pickup rolled into the water on the local boat ramp. A passerby noticed the truck was going under and tried but couldn’t break the window with his fist. Someone threw him a piece of water-logged driftwood found nearby that looked like a hammer and the hero shattered the side door glass and pulled the dog to safety. The hammer is prominently displayed at the museum.


By far the highlight of the Haines visit was the tour of Steve Kroschel’s Wildlife Films 47 acre park. Steve and his knowledgeable helper, Mario, gave an excellent 90 minute presentation to about 30 visitors. Steve, Mario and Garrett (Steve’s son) live at the remote park and care for all of the animals. These animals all arrived here under various difficult circumstances; orphaned, injured, etc. They are passionate about their work and all of the animals are well cared for. Some of the animals we met were a timber wolf (scary strong), hawk, owl, badger, wolverine, lynx, mink, various weasels, fox, caribou and moose. For me, the show stopper was a 2 month old female grizzly cub. She was the cutest thing I ever saw. Her mother was accidentally shot by a hunter and her brother died. When the bush pilot flew in the get the cub she was sitting on the hunters backpack. The pilot put her into a knapsack and flew her out of the wilderness. She is fed a formula normally for baby whales imported from Alabama and costs $600 a week. Steve’s tour cost $25 and is worth twice the price.

Alaska Lynx: they only eat snowshoe hare
Steve and Wolverine

Mario and Snowy Owl
Porky

Kitty
Hawk eating fellow bird

Joyce, the manager at Oceanside RV,invited us to a crab boil that night. For $6/pp we each got a fresh Dungeness crab boiled to perfection. The taste was unbelievable. Pat could only eat half of her crab. It was a potluck and Pat made her famous guacamole which was a hit.

Fisherman/Chef






After dinner we went to the ferry to resume our trip to Skagway where we arrived at 11 pm. This will be our last ferry trip. The ferries have been our largest expense so far with about $2,500 spent.