SE Alaska Part 5: Haines

The weather was actually not terrible for our day in Haines, the sun even came out a little bit. The evening prior, we took the Fjord Express ferry from Skagway to Haines and arrived in the small boat harbor, which was easy walking distance to our Airbnb.

Haines is a small town, but it felt less touristy and more like a place to live than some of the other small towns in SE Alaska. It also does not get a lot of cruise ship traffic.

Haines is one of the best places for accessible bear viewing and we were in luck. Bears frequent the river at the Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Area when the salmon are running and that was our first stop. When we first pulled in, all we saw was people waiting and watching, but after not too long we saw a mama and two babies and then another group of bears came down to the rivers edge to get some salmon.

After bear viewing we drove the Haines Highway to the Canadian border to check out the views and then turned around and drove back. The Chilkat River was flowing full and fast due to the recent rain.

We stopped for a tasty lunch at 33 Mile Roadhouse Cafe on the way back.

On the way back to Haines, in Klukwan we saw a sign for Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center and Bald Eagle Preserve Visitor Center and decided to check it out. It turned out that that was the last day they were open for the season. The small museum preserves and displays the Whale House Collection.

After that we drove back to Haines and took a hike to Battery Point.

And to finish the day we drove down to Mud Bay and Chilkat State Park. We didn’t see any whales, but there were great views of the glaciers across the bay.

One attraction we didn’t get a chance to see in Haines is the Hammer Museum. It was closed the day we were there, but the huge hammer in the front was pretty entertaining.

Dinner was halibut taco salad at the Bamboo Room Restaurant.