Haines, Attitudes and Bears

Oceanside RV Park, Haines, AK – August 30 & 31, 2014

This morning when we looked outside Big Guy, we saw this little fella. This picture is being posted just to let a friend know that his rig could make it up here, too!

Today, we decide to explore Haines proper and see if any of the local vendors can use our money. At one store I see a fellow sitting in one of several comfortable chairs and go join him. Meanwhile EJ goes inside the store while this fellow and I make some conversation. I, seeking some local information, ask his opinion about things we should try and do or see. I liked one of his responses “I could send you to one of the tour companies, but you can just drive out towards Chilkoot Lake and see bears on your own”.

I asked him why Haines didn’t have more cruise ships docking here and that really got him fired up. He said Haines wasn’t owned by the cruise ship companies like Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan were. The Haines business owners didn’t want to sell out like those other towns did.

About that time he realized EJ was in the store shopping and he jumped up exclaiming, “Excuse me, ‘I got a customer!” Shortly afterwards I learned that he was the owner of this store as well as the gold and jewelry store on 2nd street.

Later wandering around town, we saw this sign. Guess that fellow I was talking to wasn’t the only store owner that felt that way.

In the early evening hours, we once again drove out near Chilkoot Lake and watched for bears. This time we got to catch them fishing for salmon in Lutek Inlet.

In this picture, although it’s difficult to see, is a bear on the far side of the fence scooping up salmon. The fence is used to facilitate counting salmon so the state can determine the size of the various salmon runs.

As we wind down our evening of bear watching, we catch an eagle looking for its dinner too.

On Sunday we go to the Sheldon Museum. This museum covers a wide swath of area history and Tlingit information. It has the lens from the Eldred Rock lighthouse as well as a scale model of the lighthouse buildings. There are displays about shipwrecks, hunting, and Native clans.

There is even a “totem in progress” out front. But no one is working on it so we’ll have to save that for a later time.

We wander around the harbor and see that it’s home to 50 or so boats. Most of them are personal boats and only a few are tour boats or commercial fishers. Oooo! Reflections!

Back at the RV park we discover we didn’t have to drive 8 or 9 miles to see eagles. We have them right in front of Big Guy. We’ll let him keep an eye on things while we relax for this evening.