Coming to the Valley of the Eagles

 

Haines AK is known as the valley of the eagles because of an eagle preserve along the Chilkat River. 3000 eagles come here in the fall to feed on a late run of chum salmon. Meanwhile, many breeding pairs make the river valley their home year round. We saw one with wings spread the full seven feet wide as we came down the Haines Highway.

The Haines Highway defies superlatives. The mountains. The rivers. The lakes. The mounded glacial hills. A waterfall or two. A hike up the rock moraine of a glacier. The Chilkat Pass, highly guarded for centuries by natives who did not want to give up control of their trading route. It was a glorious day, sunny and PERFECT. As we drove, the mountains acquired hula hoop cloud rings around their middles. We saw the Kluanes and then the magnificent St. Elias range.

Haines is a small waterfront town served by the Alaska ferry system. It is a small fishing village and home to fishermen and artists. Like Valdez, it is surrounded by mountains on all sides and has a protected harbour.
One of its picturesque highlights is historic Fort Seward, where the white wood two story officer homes are now businesses like B & B's, restaurants, and the like.

Daisy had a walk through a picturesque city park by the water and an adjoining old cemetery. (about her fourth walk of the day: a meadow, the rock glacier, the water falls preceding this one). The park was filled with wildflowers. I once again tried to photograph. You be the judge. Today I saw more shasta daisies than at any other time during the trip. White floating roadsides. They look so happy.

We drove to the Chikoot River (no, I didn't mispell, there's chilkat and chilkoot) where bears fish during salmon runs. No bears. We saw a fish weir, a fence all the way across the river with one small opening in the middle. A man was standing out in the middle. What was he doing? Counting salmon. 2400 Sockeye have passed through so far this season. I could not believe he counts manually. Said you have to, to separately count the kinds of salmon that are crossing. Fish and Game uses this information to judge the rate of breeding and returns. They allow fishing based on the escapement numbers so that the population is maintained. He said the bears won't come to the river till the pinks run, because they spawn in the river. We are just too early for the fish, who have all decided to be late this year.

Just over the St. Elias Range is Glacier Bay, where I hope to visit tomorrow on a flightseeing tour. Maybe land on the glacier. That would be a big splurge, but I have been waiting during the trip for the right time to splurge on something other than diesel. (We paid 6.29 a gallon in Chicken, AK.) Drake the pilot says we will see about the weather in the morning. Hope so!