Haines, Alaska

Day 28 – Friday, August 26 2005
Haines, Alaska
Miles Driven: 25

This is the first time since the trip began that we stayed in the same place for more than one night. The rain had stopped so we spent part of the day driving around the Haines area. We drove to Chilkoot Lake, 10 miles out of town, and watched hundreds of salmon rolling over in the lake. It was spawning season and the salmon were everywhere. There were also lots of bald eagles sitting on the rocks next to the river. We stopped at the Harbor Bar for a snack and a drink then went back to the motel to catch up on some laundry. In the evening we went back to the Pioneer Bar for dinner since it was so good the night before. Everyone in town had been telling us about the brown bears that come down to the river near Chilkoot Lake just before dark to fish for salmon, so we drove out there to check it out. After finding a place to park (there were a lot of people there bear watching) we watched as three (maybe four) bears fished on the opposite shore. They were too far away to get a good picture, but it was fun watching them through the binoculars.