DAY 32 (6/4): Back on Dry Land…The Haines Hwy

June 05, 2024

DAY 32 (6/4): Back on Dry Land…The Haines Hwy

The Kennicot arrives in Haines at 4:15am - that means wake-up call at 3:34! This is after that quick stop on Juneau in the middle of the night with noisy neighbors, we are exhausted, but rewarded with this beautiful view upon leaving the ferry - if you look closely you can see that this Princess ship is still lit up since it is pre-dawn.

Upon arrival in Haines NOTHING is open. We head for the Hammer Museum for a quick photo of this gigantic hammer, and end up seeing Jack, from our ferry, wandering the streets waiting for a bank or coffee shop to open. Jack is from Vashon Island, WA. He is hitch-hiking and backpacking by himself around Alaska for "a while", to meet up with his son who is leading a guided trek in Denali...and whatever else...! ...and people think we are crazy...if you are reading this Jim Wolfe, Jack reminded us of you - doing something you would do!

Barry & I decided to park the van in a lot by the ocean to catch up a bit and eat breakfast - the last of the food we brought on board (cautious about crossing the border today with food).

We started driving the Haines Hwy towards Haines Junction. Too bad it is rainy and cloudy...Imagine how much MORE beautiful this would be if the weather was nice...but even so, the scenery is amazing! We first pass snowy mountain ranges, and then gorgeous areas full of lush trees. Honestly, as they say, the photographs do not do it justice at all. The colors are much more vibrant than in the photos - we did our best! BTW, you can see that we crossed the Canadian border (made it through no problem) into BC, then into Yukon...I will add a map at the end of this post.

Our first stop was Haines Junction. We stopped at 1 of 2 Kluane Visitor Centers here, grabbed some pastries, breakfast at Village Bakery, and frozen pot pies for dinner at a grocery store (again, don't want to stock up too much since we cross the border again tomorrow!).

The next Kluane Visitor Center promised Dahl Sheep, but according to the Ranger there we just missed 'em! Here is where they would have been - ha! ha!

We were told that the road conditions would be "not so great", and it is pretty true - there are potholes everywhere from the permafrost conditions. Driving is a little like playing frogger...

We finally made it to our RV camp for the night - Discovery Yukon Lodgings - this place is GREAT! ...and suddenly the sun came out, which made it even more beautiful. Funny, I think we are meeting more people from our ferry after disembarking - LOL! There are at least 4 other groups of us staying here tonight. Everyone is so nice...Mike (and his wife Jean, from Grand Junction) are visiting their son and grandkids in Anchorage for the summer - he was so kind to donate $20 to our fundraiser when he noticed me carrying dad around 💜

There are 2 ladies that run this place, one is from Norway for her second summer here (not sure if the other lady owns the place?). They have many displays, including old military vehicles from when the Al-Can Hwy was being constructed - dad got into those (literally)!