August 1, 2018
Knowing that the bears mostly come out in the evening, I decided I would explore the town of Haines. My first stop was at a pull-out that gave a waterfront view of Haines with a cruise ship in port. There was also a welcome sign with totem poles on each end.
I stopped at the Information Centre and asked for suggestions of places to visit. From her advice, I drove towards the cannery.
From across the inlet, you could see the red building of the cannery and the mountains in the background. It made for a lovely photo.
I decided to continue onto the road and came across a State Park. The road went down a steep hill with many curves. I ended up behind a camper van and it drove to the end of the road as did I. They parked and who should it be, but Shea and Erin. We chatted for a few minutes and went about taking photo’s around the area. This area was like the best kept secret, aqua green water, glaciers and a huge waterfall on the opposite side with clouds part way down … so beautiful.
Shea, Erin and I talked for another half hour and then Erin went to the camper van and brought out a package of salmon for me! She said that they were going to go the campsite to see if I was there later and give it to me. The salmon was the darkest red I had ever seen. Shea and Erin had caught two huge salmon and this was a piece of one of the ones they caught. My goodness, I truly appreciated that they would give me a piece of their wonderful salmon.
I headed back to Haine’s and visited the library to attempt to post a couple blogs. With so many people from the cruise ship in the library, the WiFi was not working well. On the way out, I ran into Chris and Lindsay and chatted with them for a few minutes.
I took a short drive out to the old set that was used for filming "White Fang". It was pretty neat to see.
I made my way a couple blocks to the west side of Haines as I wanted to visit Fort Seward. In the early 1900’s the government had built a fort in this region. The fort is named after William H. Seward who was able to buy Alaska from Russia. I took a few photo’s of some of the buildings. They had the most modern of everything in the buildings including flush toilets and bathtubs … remember this was built in the early 1900’s.
I returned back to the campsite and couldn’t wait to cook the salmon. I prepared a meal that even I have to say was amazing … and the salmon … oh my goodness was it ever good!
I returned to a strategic location to see if any bears were around and Shea, Erin, Chris and Lindsay were all there. We chatted for quite some time and no signs of bears. We went down to the weir and stayed there for another hour and still no bears. Shea and Erin decided to pack it in. Chris, Lindsay and I stuck it out for another hour and no bears. I decided I would pack it in as well.
I was by the truck when a gentleman drove up quickly and said there were bears down by the totem pole and working there way up to us. Chris, Lindsay and I decided we would quickly walked down towards the totem pole. It was a good thing we did as the grizzly with three cubs had turned around and was now heading to the bridge. We walked along the road and got up to the bridge and got some photo’s. Chris did some video while Lindsay did the photo’s … great team work.
It was starting to get dark, but so much fun to watch Momma bear running through the water and keeping the cubs close by. Then out by the bay you could see two black bears heading towards the shoreline. It was too dark to take good photo’s, but amazing to see so many bears!
Another wonderful day!