Haines - 7.28.15 - 8.3.15

Haines is a great little town. We had a wonderful time there. It has a lot of personality and still (nicely) without much influence from the cruise industry (one big boat per week). Haines and nearby Skagway, are the most Northern of the string of ports that are part of the Inside Passage. As a Southeast coastal town, tucked under snow capped mountains (like Valdez and Seward), it has a rain forest feel to it. About 2300 people live in Haines year round. 

 The beaches are very rocky and hard to walk on, unless the tide is low.

 

 We stayed at a state campground about 9 miles out of town for a couple days, then at an in-town campground for easy walking access to activities we wanted to do. The drive back and forth to town was beautiful. Boats beached by high tides, glacial silt colored waters, birds, and salmon swimming upstream were our views for the 9 mile trip to town.

View from our in-town campsite:

As Haines is coastal, and wet, we did have lots of 'moody' days. This part of Alaska looks very different from the drier warmer mainland area. For this part of the trip (and likely the rest of the trip), daily high temperatures are in the mid-60's, under mostly gray, damp skies. There won't be many 'blue sky days' !

 

Haines is subject to very high tides (20 feet), which were exaggerated by the full moon cycle during our stay (+/- 3 ft.). Small cruise ships dock a couple days per week. It's funny to see them at the dock at low tide.

  There is a commercial dock with fish and crabbing boats coming and going. We camped next door to a family that brought their boat on vacation for the opening of Sockeye salmon fishing season. Unfortunately, it looked like they were a bit too early to catch anything.

The docks here, and in other towns, have a dry dock area where people can just motor their boat up on a rack at high tide, then when the tide goes out, the boat is exposed and can be serviced. No mechanical lifting involved.

Haines has great museums for such a small town. The history is rooted in Chilkoot and Chilkat Indians trading furs with Russian and Americans.

Kris loved the design and craftsmanship of the Chilkoot blankets. Men designed the patterns using highly stylized clan symbols and the women wove the blanket. The blankets often depict a legend. It takes one year to make a blanket working 8 hours a day. A finger weaving method called twining is used to weave. No other tools are used. Each weaver was given (by the elders) a distinguishing signature that is woven into the corner of the fringe. Aren't the blankets beautiful !!

 

  

Bentwood boxes were traditional storage containers. A long cedar plank is notched (nearly through and through) in three places forming (when folded) the four sides of the box. The notched plank is soaked in a steam pit until pliable, which then allows folding along the notches. A lap joint forms the last corner. Then a bottom is attached and a lid is made. The boxes are often decorated.

And look at the Halibut fishing hooks. There is so much art, even in the daily tools used by coastal natives.

There is a part of town called Fort Seward that was the first permanent Army post in Alaska following the United States' purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. The buildings, now restored and re-purposed, encompass a hotel, restaurants, and artist studios. One large building houses a native cultural center that includes active art studios including a totem carving room. The totem pole that is on the floor had been commissioned about 35 years ago for a home in Lake Tahoe. When the owner of the home died, and the house was sold (about 4 years ago) the buyers did not want the totem, so they returned it to the artist in Haines. It had to be cut is half for removal from the home, and now the clan elders and the city of Haines are trying to decide where to display it.

Since some of the native art (particularly the totems) are rooted in family clan lineages, there is a strong effort to accurately map family trees. Many natives have two names – their native name, and their western name. This, and the lack of written records, makes tracing genealogy particularly challenging. It was interesting to see and active 'working' genealogical map under way.

Haines, and Southeast Alaska is Bald Eagle terrain. We saw some, but the height of their population in Haines is in November, when there is a late run of spawning chum salmon in the warm river waters. Apparently about 2000 eagles come at that time to feast on the exhausted, dying salmon. Photographers from all over the world come to photograph the event. We did tour a raptor rescue center where there were resident, convalescing bald eagles (one from an electrocution injury, and one from being hit by a truck - both with partial wing amputations), who were fed while we were there.

There is a silly and surprisingly fun museum in town – 'The Hammer Museum', which claims to be the largest museum in the world dedicated to hammers. In the 8000 hammer collection (not all on display), they have every imaginable hammer design, some with patent documentation. The 'action' figures were obtained as a donation from the Smithsonian.

 

We went to the Southeast Alaska State Fair in Haines and had a ball. The event 'dripped' local color. The day started with a parade down main street, followed by a walk to the fairgrounds.

The compact fairgrounds are centered around the stage set used to create the ton of Dalton for the filming of the White Fang movie.  

There was a lumberjack competition which featured local residents in events such as ax throwing, obstacle course, chain and long sawing, and of course, log rolling.

 

This event was interesting. The competitor had to walk up a tree (set almost horizontal supported on one end only) balance beam style while carrying a live chain saw. The tree had a lot of 'spoing' to it. Upon reaching the tip en of the log, her had to cut off the last few inches of the log (that he was precariously balanced upon), with required cuts on both sides of the log. Then he had to make his way back down the log to the base. Most people fell off. The winner, completed the task in the fastest time.  It was a little hair raising.

 

There was a similar competition for seamanship skills including a herring toss (like an egg toss), relays that included speed donning of fishing wear, tying knots in lines, buoy tossing, and running to a finish line.

There were bands and other performers, arts and crafts awards, animals, Ferris wheel, rock climbing wall, and a merry-go-round. What more could anyone want ?? We had a great day.

In order for the town to accommodate incoming visitors for the event, they opened up large ball fields for free tent camping, and liberalized the 'no parking', 'no camping' rules in town. It was very easy for anyone to drive to, stay, and attend the event.

Skagway: 

We took the fast ferry up to Skagway for a day trip. We had not originally planned to see Skagway, but we had a free day and the weather was great.  Skagway is a favorite stop for large cruise ships – there were 5 in port when we were there. It's a bit disappointing to see what 10,000 tourists do to a historic, quaint town.  

 

 Most of the shops are now owned by the cruise companies, including a Tanzanite International and Diamonds International stores. HUH?? In Alaska? It doesn't fit. In talking with the locals, they tell us that the ship owned stores fold up and go away at the end of the season, taking all their inventory until they return the following year.

 

 On the other hand, we found some redeeming activities. The national park service has several museums in town and have acquired more (to be developed) historic buildings in town. They conduct docent guided tours. We did see a simulated pile of supplies and goods (totalling 1000 pounds, enough for a year) that a stampeder would have been required to haul/carry before obtaining a permit to enter the notorious Chilkoot trail. It usually took over 10 trips to get it all up and over the pass to Lake Bennett, where they would then start the boat ride to Dawson City.

The Artic Brotherhood building has over 8833 pieces of driftwood attached to the front of it.

We saw a lively vaudville show about the life, and ultimate shooting, of Skagways notorious early crime boss, 'Soapy' Smith. He was a ruthless business man who exploited the young and often innocent stampeders, who came to town as part of the gold rush. For example, he constructed a telegraph office so that folks could communicate their safe arrival to their family back home. For a modest fee of $5.00, the message would be sent. The only thing is … the wires ran out the back of the building, across the way a bit, and down into the ground. There was no telegraph at all.

A beer at the Red Onion Saloon capped off the day in Skagway. The walls are 'decorated' with antique bedpans and the waitresses wear period costumes.

The ferry ride back to Haines was beautiful. Yippee – a blue sky day !  In the afternoon, the water turns green.

Night Night Haines

Next Post - Sitka