Day 14 - Skagway, AK to Haines, AK by Ferry

Tuesday, July 13th
We (truck, camper and bodies) needed to be in queue at the ferry dock by 5:20 AM – Ugh!!

Executing two 90-degree, opposite direction turns to get on the ferry was the first major driving hurdle Peter has had; our total length is 55-feet. 20-minutes later and with lots of spotting by the ferry folks we made it. Getting off at Haines was a breeze.

Finally situated on the ferry!

Leaving Skagway Harbor

with 4 cruise ships arriving for the day.

Haines is ~10 miles from Skagway by water and ~350 miles by road.
This short ferry ride is the extent of our travels on the Inside Passage!

A couple of good looking guys on the ferry.


Haines, Alaska
Population 2,800

Although three times bigger than Skagway,
Haines does not have the same tourist draw; cruise ships rarely stop here.
Haines has a larger presence of First Nations Tlingit than Skagway does.
(Native people in Alaska and Canada are referred to as the First Nations people.)
Haines is known as the Valley of the Eagles.
3,500 eagles arrive at a site on what is now part of the 48,000-acre Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve
for the Chum Salmon Run mid-October thru December.

Since we arrived at our destination in the AM we had the day to tour Haines.

We stopped at the American Bald Eagle Foundation Interpretive Center:
no live Eagles are currently available for public viewing
but we saw Great Horned and Barred Owl demonstrations.
We first wondered it people from Haines had accents,
then we found out the gal doing the demo was an intern from Auburn, Alabama.
Did you know female owls are always bigger than their male counterparts?

The Eagle Center's Horn & Antler Room
Did Peter grow wings?

Does William have horns?

If you have a “pounding” interest in hammers,
there is a privately owned hammer museum with over 1800 hammers.
We just stopped for a Kodak Moment.
This 19-foot hammer was built in 1923.

(No wildflower photo today)
Peter's photo of a rushing stream from
Dewey Mtn. in Skagway