A journey to fill my soul

Traveling as I am, you must always read reviews of stops and destinations so you have a clear understanding as to what you should expect. Of course you need to read between the lines and weed out the chronic complainers, but you should take something from each post. I had to make a one night stop before pulling into Haines for scheduling purposes, so I chose a Territorial park as I have many times in the past. The one thing that was clear was that this was going to be a windy stop. I stayed one short night in Dezadeash Park on the shores of a lake by the same name. This lake is located between two mountain ranges which opens in the south to the ocean. I have a hard camper, I’ve stayed in wind and cold, what could possibly be so bad about this stop? All I can say is, holy cow, these people weren’t kidding. The camper was a’rockin all night long. Man it was windy. It was sure beautiful looking out the window of my home at the snow covered mountain tops and sparking lake just outside, but sleeping came with thoughts of big foot outside my cabin trying to get in. All good, it was a quick night.

Welcome to Haines, Alaska

The one thing that strikes me as so odd, is the number of people you meet while traveling from the great State of Wisconsin.

Not that many people would care, but after nine months it was time for a haircut. The gal that cut my hair was a transplant from West Allis.

If you follow travel blogs and web videos you’ll know of a rather famous bar/restaurant in Haines, the Bamboo Room famous for their fresh fish & chips.

The person working the bar was from northern Wisconsin. The fish was very fresh, very flavorful, and the meal was delicious. She joked, nothing like a Friday night fish fry. It was Friday night.

I stopped at an arts and crafts store near the marina. What pulled me in was a classic 1969 Norton Commando 850 outside the door. That’s a well known, well sought after motorcycle. The owner of the establishment is from Hales Corners…..Strange world. Great conversation, and he wasn’t interested in selling the bike.

Haines has my heart…

I’ve traveled quite a bit in my life and there aren’t too many places I would consider moving to. Haines does have my interest. It’s a rather small city surrounded by snow capped mountains. The city is the meeting place of many rivers which empty into a deep fjord called the Lynn Canal. This is a place where the fresh water from the mountain snow meets the salt water of the ocean. It seems you can’t help but find a beautiful place to walk to, or park near, and take in the amazing views around you. They say the winters are moderate, they have cold, and sometimes lots of snow, but the winters are always changing. They’ll get some warm ocean air, they call it the Hawaii current, that will melt the snow before the Arctic sends some cold on down, but only for short blasts. Interesting….

Travel mistake?

I have a method I follow as I look out several days, or even weeks in front of myself for places which may be possibly unique, or remote as I like, but always keeping an eye on my tanks; fresh water, fuel, waste, and of course, food. I knew, after seven weeks of travel, I would have a need to really settle for a few days and resupply, and gather my thoughts as I start to unwind this trip. Even though that’s probably still two months away. What I didn’t see from my research of Haines is the incredible places to camp, with many dry camps right on the shoreline. The visitor center in Haines even has a section that explains the rules of dry camping and places they recommend. I know I have never seen a city encourage people to be homeless and park along the shoreline, although I don’t consider myself to be homeless, just a curious traveler with means.

What did I miss?

For some reason I totally missed this State park at the end of a road where the road snakes along a river full of fish and bears.

Man, I dropped the ball on this one. Following are a few images from my drive along the road to the park and the campsite entry.

Bears can be tricky to photograph

It’s hard to believe, of all the bears I’ve seen while driving, I have not taking one picture of the creature, that I recall. On this drive there are signs everywhere warning of bears, specifically grizzly’s. There was bear scat all over, on the roads, where I sat and watched the fishers, everywhere, but not one opportunity to take a shot of one. Crazy. I have a stop planned in about a month that should guarantee that chance, but not for now.

What’s next?

Tomorrow morning I’ll head out early to drive towards Fairbanks. I’ll be driving the same road I came in on but keep going when I get to Tok, Alaska. There’s a three plus hour section of some pretty rough road which makes the going slow through there. I’ve got three nights for this trip, I’m in no hurry and will find some dry camps to stay at on the way. If I’m lucky, I’ll stay at the same Alaska State park I used on the way down. That camp was free and a real dream of a place.

So, till next time, thanks for making it this far. Thank you for following, and thanks for the likes and comments, they encourage me to keep this up. All my best to you all! Peace…