July 9, 2013 South to Haines, Million Dollar Falls, Chilkoot

July 9, 2013

Woke to sunshine, with the everpresent clouds wrapping around mountaintops and floating above the water. Headed south to Haines Junction.  Stopped at this unusual memorial for a young native man put together by family and friends.  

  Saw this young brown bear along the road but he was moving quickly.

  Stopped at the Village Bakery  in Haines Junction for some delicious Cinnamon rolls and blueberry scones, and coffee.  Liked their sign….

We took Highway 3, the Haines Highway, from here and the road was blessedly wonderful.  Very scenic with a continuation of mountains and lakes with more vegetation – here the spruce are tall as opposed to the rather stunted black spruce of the taiga. There,  a black spruce with a trunk 2” in diameter can be nearly 100 years old. ( Slow growing, short growing season, and shallow roots due to permafrost.)

Stopped at  Million Dollar Falls for a short hike

and a few moments later, we spied this brown bear that was soon joined by a black bear!  Enjoyed watching them munch grasses and meander for 10-15 minutes.

We saw two more bears, a brown bear digging around rocks and a black bear which took off rather quickly.   Approaching Haines, we entered the Bald Eagle Wildlife Preserve and saw a couple of eagles by the river.  The road has been following the Chilkat river for some time.  This 4-mile section of river does not freeze in the winter due to warm springs, and in October there can be up to 4,000 bald eagles which gather to fish.

Fish wheel trap along the Chilkat

Entered Haines and found the visitor’s center.  After a wonderful hot shower at MooseWood Laundromat, we went to the Bald Eagle Association Center, which houses injured raptors.  They had a few huge owls, 

barred and great horned, and we watched them feed two bald eagles while we learned about these amazing birds which are considered sea birds, eat mostly fish and scavenged prey.  Basically they are the larger, good looking versions of the ugly turkey vulture!

Drove out along the Chilkat river to a fish processing plant.  The plant was finishing for the day (3:30) so were just cleaning up.  Talked with a pleasant lady in the gift shop and learned that the Chilkat hosts all five types of salmon, so they have runs almost continuously from June till October.   Shortly after leaving, we spotted a couple of eagles and found that there were fish remains along the shore.  Parked and watched lots of ravens and a few eagles come in and get food. 

Young bald eagles

Next we drove out to Chilkoot Lake, on the other side of town.  Nice drive and a beautiful stream and lake at the end.  Fishermen.  Big eagle nest across the river.

Lovely campground there at Chilkoot Lake State Park, so we opted to park there tonight for $10.