HAINES

We rolled into Haines on September 1. Our intention had been to use one of the tour services to go to Juneau. Alas, we are too late and the season has ended. There is still the ferry system, but the timing for that is not good unless you plan to stay over in the city a night or two. We may still do that (they have one final trip going out Friday), but right now our focus is on getting our furnace going again. One of the auto parts stores was able to order the fuel control, and to have it expedited by air into Haines from Washington. The control was $169, and the freight is still to be determined! The part may arrive tomorrow afternoon. We're prepared for a longer stay. We've taken an RV park site for 3 nights so we can have electric heat. Weather has been mostly crappy and cold.

After ordering our part, we drove out to the Chilkoot State Park, about 11 miles along the coast. Here is where the salmon are counted (note the count sign) and where grizzlies pluck the salmon out of the river's exit into the bay. These two bears were not the greatest fishermen, but they managed to get salmon while we watched. All 5 species of Pacific salmon are caught here, as well as steelhead, rainbow, dolly varden and the halibut are here too, but in deep saltwater.

More than 120 species of birds have been sighted here. Each November up to 3500 bald eagles gather in the Chilkat Valley, the largest congregation in the world. There are trumpeter swans, arctic terns and hawks, and hundreds of thousands of gulls!

In contrast to the heaps of snow Valdez gets, Haines averages about 60 inches annually, making it one of the drier spots in the southeast. The coldest temperature on record in town is -17, the record high around 90. (Fairbanks -60 to 90, if you recall from our earlier posts).

In our last post, we had a picture and comment about a fish wheel we had seen along the river. Well, here's the "Rest Of The Story" taken from the Haines Visitor Guide: Fishwheels operated by the state Department of Fish and Game can be seen alongside the road near 9 Mile. Scientists use the wheels to scoop up fish for tagging and measurement; they're returned afterward to the river to continue their journey upstream.