Haines – Ulen Adventures

2 July 2018. From Haines to Tok AK

2 July 2018. Driving from Haines AK to Tok AK

Monday was back on the road. We had to leave our camping spot northwest of Haines, drive back down through Haines, and up to Tok AK. This required driving back into Canada, through a corner of British Columbia and then the Yukon, for a total goal of around 450 miles.

The drive just north of Haines, headed to the border were spectacular. Lots of snow covered jagged mountain peaks and views of glaciers.

Our second border crossing into Canada was much smoother than the first. We had all the paperwork for “bear deterrent” filled out and stamped, so a quick check of serial numbers and we were on our way.

Even the worst parts of the day’s drive were pretty darn neat. Lots of stretches of empty road, followed by the passing of a couple of RVs, then more empty road. Cars were certainly in the minority.

We happened upon our first scary bear. He (she?) wasn’t bothering anyone, just eating grass alongside the road. But that didn’t make a bear that could eat you if it chose, less unnerving…. A quick picture, and we continued down the highway.

First Grizzly Bear – couldn’t get him to pose, either…

We also got to experience “frost heaves”. The building of roads in this part of the world is on ground that gets wet, expands as it freezes, and that mucks up the asphalt a bit. A nice frost heave just feels like a whoop-d-doo, a not so nice frost heave results in a crap load of unavoidable pot holes. Canada does a good job of putting out red flags where the bad road sections are, Alaska not so much…. There were a lot of places they fixed the road damage, but they did it by replacing the road with nice dirt and gravel. The dirt/gravel was smooth, but you’d fling up a bunch of rocks if you hit it at 60+mph.

Tok AK is at sort of a crossroads. Major Alaska highways coming and going in several different directions. We chose an RV park that had good reviews, but I don’t know how it got them….. Another night of showing in our camper. We’ll be hitting Tok again on our way home, I think we’ll try one of the other seven RV parks then…..

Still, a most excellent day for one that was just about getting some miles driven.

30 June 2018. Haines AK

30 June 2018. Wandering about in Haines AK.

Saturday was a continuation of our restocking day. More cleaning, doing the end of the month household books, and hitting a second grocery store because one of us is picky about some things…. 🙂

For lunch we walked down to the Haines Volunteer Fire Department BBQ lunch. It’s one of their fundraisers, we were hungry, and they had the best t-shirts in town. They had a 1953 Jeep Fire Engine on display. Pretty neat!

Lunch at the Haines Firehouse! BBQ Brisket!

On display – a 1953 Jeep Willys Firetruck. Cool!

We walked the long way back to the campground and stopped at the Hammer Museum. Yeah, an entire museum dedicated to hammers. It was actually pretty interesting, and was even more than one room…

29 June 2018. Ferry to Haines

29 June 2018. Ferry to Haines.

Friday was an early morning. The alarm was set for 4am, which in Alaska, is still pretty much daylight. We packed up camp and drove to the Ferry terminal. Today would be traveling from Juneau AK to Haines AK, about a four and a half hour trip. Why they need you there two hours before departure, I don’t understand. While there are some car puzzle logistics involved, it doesn’t take two hours….. This was our first Ferry where we loaded backwards. We drove forwards onto the Ferry, they directed us to turn around while we were on the car deck, and then backed us into place. At least being a truck/camper, it meant we got to load first.

Our wet camper on the Ferry – had to park it backwards!

View from the MV LeConte – weather did not cooperate

The Ferry trip was wet and uneventful. The rain kept us inside where most of the people were catching up on sleep lost to the early departure.

Once in Haines we drove straight to the campground, with only a quick side trip to the quarter car wash….. Once we got a campsite reserved, we drove into town, grabbed a quick lunch, and hit the grocery store. Supplies were getting thin, and this was time to restock. Back at the campground we started up laundry and began cleaning the truck and camper. The rain had stopped and it gave us a chance to get things completely dry from Juneau.