Coastal Alaska in August, whose idea was that??

Arriving in Haines we drove up the Chilkoot River and noticed a bunch of cars stopped along the road.  The Alaskan Game and Fish department had set up a fish weir to count the returning salmon and some local brown bears were taking advantage of it.  We spent two days in Haines waiting for our ferry to Juneau.  We camped at Chilkoot Lake and enjoyed watching the returning chum and pink salmon and all the people catching them at the lake entrance.  People were catching fish every couple of minutes but most of the fish were snagged, that is not caught by the mouth, and so were unceremoniously de-hooked on the gravel and returned to the river via boot toe.  We got a bit of a taste of local Haines life hanging out at the Fogcutter bar having a beer and walking around town.  The constant rain meant that we looked for activities that were indoors; spending the day outside in the rain only to return to the back of a pickup doesn't have a whole lot of appeal.

          

The ferry ride to Juneau was nice, not a lot of views other than the fog but we had a great time none-the-less.  Juneau has been a bit soggy to say the least.  Our campground on Mendenhall Lake experienced a Jokulhlaup (glacial outburst flood for you non-geologists) just before our arrival and, because of the amount of rainfall, is still partially flooded.  The upside of this is that the lake is loaded with icebergs calved off of the glacier.  Seeing an opportunity to save some money on ice I lassoed one of the small bergs and used our axe to fill up our cooler with free ice, never mind that it took half an hour in the rain and I looked like a mass murderer with the axe! 

We spent the better part of the day checking out the Alaska State Museum and were particularly impressed with the art and ingenious clothing and tools made by the natives in the area.  The parka pictured below is made from seal gut and is sewed so that it is completely watertight.  They also made spruce root baskets that were woven so tight that they would actually cook in them by filling them with food and water and then dropping in heated stones.  It was humbling to see the kayaks that they would use to hunt seals, walruses, and whales from.  I can't imagine being out to sea with only a short wood and bone spear in a hide and wood boat chasing down some of these animals.



Back at our camp we enjoyed the fine Alaskan weather and had a gourmet meal of pasta noodles.  Today we're off to check out the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center (indoors!!) and maybe can a bunch of cranberry relish (we picked a several quarts of low bush cranberries a couple of days ago and now need our cooler space back).  Tomorrow it’s off to Petersburg for a couple of days wandering the 55 miles of road they have on the island!