RubiKon: Yukon Quest '09

Haines Hwy: The Perfect Drive on a Perfect Day

On a sunny day, one would be hard pressed to find a prettier drive than the road to Haines.

After spending the night at Lake Dezadeash we had the most incredible weather. Hardly a cloud and it was WARM!
The views along the highway were magnificent. We found ourselves stopping every mile or two. In fact, during one stretch, we realized that we had only driven 25 miles within a 2 hour period. If we were to makes the Haines-to-Skagway ferry on time, we were going to have to pick up the pace.

But oh.. the views!!

More, and more....

More.... bring it on!!!
And even more!

Finally we make it to Haines.

The Salmon were running and after checking in for our ferry, we took a trip to Chilkoot Lake. The bears were out in droves. At one point we witnessed a crowd herding a Grizzly towards the river and one crazy guy followed the bear down. After the bear got its fish it ran back towards the crowd (one gal was on crutches!) and the crowd began to run in a panic. The bear headed up to the woods and disappeared. We witnessed this all from the safety of our camper. It is a wonder more folks don't get mauled.

In the evening we took a wonderful ferry ride to Skagway.

We passed many cruise ships departing Skagway.

That night, about 11:30 pm, we tucked away into the tide flats near the abandoned town of Dyea, the start if the Chilkoot Trail.