Burwash Landing to Haines, July 28, 2009

Tuesday, July 28th, we headed for Haines, Alaska. We knew the roughest road would be around Kluane Lake. The last time we came through we had to cross it in, a pretty violent windstorm hit us. Enough to make Jim get out and climb up on the roof looking for damage. On that day, the road was all gravel. We did not know what we would find this time, and to our surprise, much of it was newly paved!!

This is an old log cabin at Burwash Landing. Jim also found an actual old abondoned Athabascan underground cabin built into the side of a hill just outside an Athabascan village. I could not photograh it due to all the brush around it. That was very interesting.
This shows the paved road as we approach the way around Kluane Lake at Goat Mountain.

I don't think you can comprehend the scale of this mountain and the length of road we see here. It continues alongside the lake at the shoreline for 20 some miles.

This is a view of a glacier in the Kluane mountains as we drove around this lake.

This is where we encountered that windstorm the last time. This is a new bridge, Sims River Bridge, and the road is still gravel near the bridge. They had paved around the mountain since the last time we were here. This time we approached in the morning so the wind was not a problem, thank goodness! Last time it was mid-late afternoon.

This is a view of Boutillier Summit of the Kluane Range. There is nothing between the camera and the mountain but wilderness. Also, nothing behind the camera but wilderness.

Once we reached Haines Junction, we turned off the Alaska Highway and headed south on the Haines Highway. This pretty little lake was our first stop. It is called Kathleen Lake, and is quite beautiful with the mountain backdrop!

This is Dezadeash Lake, another beautiful lake, enroute to Haines. Doesn't this almost want you to take up painting? It does me.....almost. :-)

This sub-alpine region was plentiful with Fireweed. It was so beautiful. In other areas, where it is warmer, I guess, the fireweed has gone to seed. The locals says that when the fireweed is gone, so is summer.

We drove a mile or so off the highway to see this Klukan Indian fishing village. This is a hut where they dry their fish and smoke it. They catch their fish using a unique fish trap made of wood which they lay in the water.

We were right beside an artesian well, where the water flowed freely beside the creek. We were so dirty and dusty from 22 miles of dirt road (not shown) that we took our bucket out and washed the poor Jeep.

This shows some of the log cabins in this summer fishing village of these people.

Here are two more log cabins. Note how low the one on the right is!

Here is a log cabin with some toys - a camper and a boat! :-) Note the antlers.

This was a very neat and pretty log cabin, rather fancy! No pavement in this village anywhere.

This is their fish cache where they store the dried, smoked fish for the winter. It is on stilts to keep bears from ravaging the food. They often put sheet metal around the legs to keep critters out.

This is the Tatksishini River Valley View. Again, because of the elevation, the fireweed is still brilliant!

We took another small side trip to see the falls called the Million Dollar Falls. I do not know how it got it's name...maybe from gold found here? I will have to reasearch it. Can you hear the water?

This is a beautiful alpine view as we approach the Chilkat Pass.

This is a nice view of three peaks called the Three Guardsmen. Note the glaciers there.

This is a glacier mountain at Chilkat Pass. This is all alpine area, above the tree line.

This is Jim by fireweed at Haines Summit of the Chilkat Pass, elevation of 3,510 ft.

We are now starting our descent down from the summit. These views are breathtaking!

This is Three Guardsmen Lake at the Chilkat Pass. This road and the one from Whitehorse to Skagway are two of the most breathtaking beautiful ones of the trip.

This is an example of a river glacier . You can see the glacier as it turns down the mountain much like a river...only much, much slower!

We are still descending down toward Haines, Alaska from the summit. This is a sub-alpine area.

Getting within 30 miles of Haines, we run alongside the Kleinhini River until it merges with the Chilkat River. This is a glacier fed river, this time with grey glacial flour.

Here the road runs between the mounatin and the Chilkat River. Good salmon fishing.

These fish wheels on the Chilkat were actually working. The fish & wildlife people had set them up and were counting fish. These wheels run by themselves with the current of the river. This was the first ones we had seen actually catching fish in the river.

In this closeup of the three net fish wheel you can see the wooden troughs where the fish land as the wheel turns. The fish then are emptied into the bucket-like contraption on the left by gravity. Once in the bucket they wind up in a holding tank which has river water running through it to keep the fish alive until the Fish & Game people come to count and release them. The athabascan people DO NOT RELEASE THEM, but dry and store them for the winter as shown in the village several pictures back.