Day 36 - Haines (Alaska) is a bird-watchers paradise with over 260 species of birds found in the area; however, most people come to Haines to view the bald eagles. In the autumn months there are about 3,500 eagles in the Chilkat Valley, making it the largest gathering of bald eagles in the world.
The Bald Eagle Foundation: Natural History Museum is located in Haines and gives tours of the facility and eagle demonstrations several times a day during the summer months. We were not there at the right time to see an eagle demonstration; however, one of the trainers had an owl on display that we could photograph.
The price of an admission ticket to the Natural History Museum also included the Sheldon Museum, where First Nations people were demonstrating how to carve a totem pole.
The most impressive museum in Hines; however, is the Hammer Museum. The museum contains over 8,700 different hammers and is the largest hammer museum in the world! Included in the extensive display of hammers, is a hammer that was use in the construction of the Giza pyramids. The owner of the museum is considered to be one of the world's leading experts in hammers and from time-to-time the Smithsonian Institute has used him to identify some hammers in their collection. You could spend all day in this museum! (But, we didn't!)
Before leaving town we had a self-guided tour of the Haines Packing Company where we watched the workers process crabs. We were told that the crabs were being prepared for shipment to the USA.
As an added bonus, we saw two Trumpeter Swans nesting on one of the high-mountain lakes. When I was asked how I knew that they were Trumpeter Swans, I explained that I had been keeping track of wildlife that we had seen on the trip, and since I hadn't checked "Trumpeter Swan" off of the list, I made a positive identification that they were Trumpeter Swans.
The Haines Road was built by the US Army Engineers during WWII to help provide supplies for construction of the Alaska Highway. Then, after the War, the road was donated to Canada. (Canada purchased the Alaska Highway and opened it to the public in 1948.) It would be easy to spend a week camping along this road.
At Haines Junction, we finally went to bed at 11:30 PM (see picture below), but the sun was still shinning!
Day 37 - Burwash Landing, Beaver Creek, Tetlin Junction (USA), Tok
At Burwash Landing I found the technically correct largest gold pan in the World!
Day 38 - "Top of the World Highway" from Tok to Dawson City, with a stop in Chicken.
Everyone should experience Chicken, Alaska, at least once in their lifetime. According to the locals, when the town was established it was to be called "Ptarmigan", but no one knew how to spell "Ptarmigan", so they settled on Chicken.
Chicken is reached by a narrow, dirt road that is in fair-poor condition and the road is closed quite often. A stop at the one-room log cabin post office is a must, where you can have your picture taken in front of the building holding a rubber chicken.
Later in the evening we arrived in Dawson and managed to catch the ferry across the river without any problems. However, we soon discovered that Dawson was a major bottleneck and campers were backed up everywhere. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the campground we found that they had given our camping reservation away, but they did finally find us a space for one night.
It had been raining for several days and many travelers did not want to attempt the muddy, dirt road from Chicken to Tok until the road dried out. We made it without using 4WD, but there were places that we did some slipping and sliding.
Also, the Dempster Highway was completely closed because it was washed out due to rains and heavy snow runoff from the mountains. There were no projected dates for reopening the road. We were disappointed that the Dempster was closed because we had really wanted to drive up to the Artic Circle (along with most of the other travelers that were stuck in Dawson).
Apparently, the Dawson area typically gets about 5 feet of snow, but last winter they got 15 feet. This was typical of everywhere that we went in Western Canada on this trip and most of the rivers and streams were in a flood stage, so we didn't do a lot of water activities.
In the evening we went to Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall and Saloon to see a stage show, which was just excellent. The entertainers were really professional!
Day 39 - Moose Creek, Stewart Crossing, Pelly Crossing, Carmacks, Whitehorse
We were really thankful that we were headed toward Whitehorse because the ferry line to cross the Klondike River stretched almost all the way back to the middle of town. Since the ferry only holds about two RV at one time, I'm certain that some people spent most of the day in line.
Before leaving the area we visited the Dredge No. 4, which was the largest dredge in the world ever constructed (it is 10 stories tall and built in 1912). We had a great tour guide and he was really able to explain how the dredge worked.
We also toured the Dawson City Museum, which has a lot of period artifacts.
The road from Dawson to Whitehorse is fairly remote, so we had to watch for every gas station that was open. Fortunately, just when we were really getting low on gas, we found an open station. We have learned that you don't ever want to pass an open gas station on these highways, since many remote gas stations are not always open.
Day 40 - Whitehorse is a great place to spend a few days and catch up on doing the laundry, cleaning the vehicles, etc. So far, we have washed the truck and trailer three times!
As you enter the town of Whitehorse, there is a large statue of a horse in front of the City Utility Building that is made entirely of used or broken utility parts. Much to our surprise, we found out that the town's name does not come from a "white horse," but the town derived its name from whitecaps on the river rapids that resemble horses' heads with white flowing manes.
Day 41 - We spent the morning at the MacBride Museum of Yukon History, where I panned for gold. I didn't strike it rich, but I did find a few gold flakes.
After lunch we went to the old railroad museum to ride the train, only to find that a private party had rented the entire facility for a wedding; thus, everyone went shopping for the rest of the day and I took a nap!
Day 42 - Johnson's Corner, Teslin, Swift River, Watson Lake
As we were laving Whitehorse, we noted some old WW11 construction equipment that was partially hidden in the trees by the side of the road. Apparently, the equipment had been used in the construction of the Alaska Highway. We were surprised that the equipment had not been moved to a museum.
While enroute to Watson Lake, we stopped by the Tlingit Heritage Center and watched a movie about the First Nations people in the area.
