I was hoping for an uneventful drive from Haines Junction in the Yukon, to Haines, Alaska, but only the Yukon roads gave me a pleasant ride. In the British Columbia, I was greeted with gravel stretches as soon as I crossed the border. And in Alaska, good grief, they have major, major road construction. There was eight miles of no road, while they build a new one to replace it. Meanwhile, me and the other vehicles had to contend with mud, gravel and dirt.
But with a short, 150 mile drive from Haines Junction, Yukon to Haines, Alaska, I was here in plenty of time to get gas, have something to eat, check in with the ferry terminal office and even do some shopping. With time to spare, I have borrowed some electricity from the ferry terminal to put today's picture on my laptop and to do some keying of at least a partial day's diary.
It was 49 degrees, cloudy and wet when I left Haines Junction. The clouds must have something to do with coastal weather, because here in Haines, it's just as bad, if not more dense. It didn't rain while I was on the road, but the low hanging clouds turned into fog at one stretch, and droplets seem to continually develop on my windshield.
I keep asking myself, "this is July, isn't it?", but as I look out in any direction, it looks like a grey, winter day. I think I'll be glad to get back to Nevada, just to warm up. This weather also makes me think what it must be like up here in the real winter.
For days now, I have not seem much in the way of game animals. Oh, yeah, I did see two cottontails, but what I was hoping for were more sightings of bear, moose, deer, etc. Ah, but I have memories for this trip, and plenty of pictures.
I did stop for a short hike this morning at a campground called the Million Dollar Falls. The falls were terrific, with tons of water carving out its path through solid rock over the years, and entertaining me today, with the sound of powerful, rushing water. It was a cold hike, but because of the beauty of the falls, it was worth it.
While waiting for my car ferry, I toured Fort Seward. A fort was built in Haines, back in 1903 and after serving as a northern output, it was finally closed in 1946. It has been designated a historic site, and the town provides information for walking tours. The layout of the original fort reminds me of othery forts, such as Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Both have the notion of the captain's house, officer's quarters, the barracks and so on. It was an interesting way for me to use my time, waiting for my car ferry check-in time.
Well, after a few hours delay, here's a contiuation of today's diary.
My car ferry for the trip from Haines, Alaska to Juneau, Alaska is named the Malaspina, and it has the distinction of being the oldest ferry on the Marine Highway. It was the first ferry, put into service back in 1963. It's basically a good ship, but it does show its age here and there. The cafeteria, most notably. It is certainly not geared to quick service to a supposed maximum of 500 passengers.
The ferry was late arriving in Haines. You could see and hear the concerns of many of the people awaiting the ship, and especially those of us with a connection in Juneau, for the 12:15AM ferry to Prince Rupert. I checked in at the the Haines terminal, two hours before scheduled departure, and spent that two hours waiting in my assigned staging lane for boarding.
Basically, there are about five staging lanes, with big trucks and busses in one lane, big motorhomes and RVs in another lane, then come the cars and pickups, and the last lane if for very small cars and motorcycles. I could not believe all that was loaded onto the ferry.
Inside the ferry, the car deck is an oval drive, such that you never drive backwards and you exit the same loading door that you used to drive your vehicle on board. They load the big vehicles first because they need the turning ratio to get to their assigned parking positions. Then the smaller vehicles follow and fill in the middle lane or any other unoccupied position. It is an impressive bit of arranging.
I didn't have a cabin reserved for my Haines to Juneau segment, so I spent my time in the observation lounge, the cafeteria, or simply walked around the ship, once we got underway. The really sad news was, that the clouds which plagued me all day, driving from Haines Junction to Haines, shrouded most of the Alaskan coastline such that there was not a whole lot to see and photograph.
As I was feeling sorry for myself, I thought about people on luxury cruise ships, which use the same Inside Passage to get to ports such as Skagway. They're seeing the same clouds, and not seeing the same mountains and glaciers that I would have liked to have seen. Oh, yes, you could make out the mountains and the glacier flows, but I'm sure it would be much, much better had it been a brilliant, sunny day. Maybe next time.
This being my first time aboard this type of car ferry, there were some things I had to learn. First, I discovered, after the fact, that once people and vehicles are boarded, and you can walk topside to the observation and lounge decks, federal law prohibits you going to the car deck while the ship is underway. Had I known that, I would have hand carried some things topside to occupy my time during the four hour cruise to Juneau. Ah, but the lesson was learned, and when I boarded my car ferry in Juneau, headed for Prince Rupert, this time I knew to take my laptop, my cameras, my ditty bag and so on.
It's a good thing I saw glaciers, earlier on my Alaska trip, because I was not able to see much today. For instance, I saw glaciers at Portage, south of Anchorage, and the Exit Glacier, north of Valdez. What I was able to see on the cruise to Juneau were impressive, huge mountains lining the Inside Passage. If you're not aware, there are no roads (none at all) to cities such as Juneau, Petersburg and Ketchikan. You either take the ferry there or fly in, probably on a small, single engine plane. Anyway, seeing the tall, rugged mountains, along the Inside Passage, will stick in my mind for some time to come.
I had an $8.00 dinner of shrimp curry, watched some video about Alaska in the lounge, and waited for the ferry to arrive in Juneau. Dispite the late arrival of the car ferry and a late departure from Haines, we made it to Juneau with plenty of time to get checked in for the Prince Rupert ferry. More later......