Haines HWY @en
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Haines HWY and back to Alaska!
1. Early morning at my camp…
2. Cold and misty atmosphere…
3. … but the fall colors of the tundra remain.
4. Small “mirror lake”….
5. Last pass before to go down to Haines.
6. Panoramic of mountains and glaciers around.
And surprise down the hill: there is a custom and I end up back in Alaska! My map of this area is definitly imprecise, I’d forgotten that Haines and Skagway are on the thin strip of Alaska along the West border of British Columbia. 😀
7. I find the Pacific back or at least one of his fjords.
8. Haines, also along a fjord.
9. His small harbor houses as much fishing and pleasure boats.
10. Since there is no road between Haines to Skagway, VivaLaVida also took a boat to travel about 18 miles by sea! 😉
11. Cruise ambiance…
12. … while the ferry navigates to the end of the fjord.
Arriving in Skagway is exotic. It is a very touristy place that keeps memory of the gold rush. It was here that the pioneers landed, then crossed the White Pass by walk before to build boats that took them down to Dawson City by the Yukon River.
13. Main Street with, in succession, a large cruise ship hosting likely thousands of tourists.
14. Most buildings date from the late 19th century…
15. … and the atmosphere is a bit of another time.
16. I leave Skagway in late afternoon and makes me to the White Pass, about twenty miles North.
17. These granite mountains eroded by glaciers and dotted with small lakes really makes me think about some landscape of Norway.
18. I decide to camp between the Alaskan and Canadian borders.
19. Last colors on the mountains…
Second return to Canada in less than a week to come in the next update! 😀
Back in Canada!
So is VivaLaVida back in Canada.
1. Short stop at Beaver Creek, the most western inhabited place in Canada. The church is funny.
2. I decide to head to Haines along Kluane National Park and the lake of the same name.
3. I find a nice boondocking spot for the night…
4. … and enjoy the late afternoon light.
This camp will reserve me a really nice surprise. As I finished preparing my campfire and was in VLV to cut vegetables, I see a cyclist coming. I go out to greet her and she introduced herself. She is a young Englishwoman who performs a solo around the world journey moving only by its own power, human power! She began in London three and a half years ago, first biking through Europe, the former USSR and China, then crossing from China to Japan and from Japan to Aleutian Islands on a rowboat (she has wrecedk in his first attempt, the loss of his ship forcing her to return to England to raise funds and rebuild a new boat) and then padling through all the Aleutian Islands to Homer (Alaska) by kayak where she ride his bike again to go to New York next spring. She will then find his rowing boat again tor cross North Atlantic to London where she will finish her world tour! Really amazing how much energy this young woman has to do this crazy challenge!! Have a look on his website: http://www.sarahouten.com, it’s worth it.
We will share really good time at VivaLaVida’s campfire and having breakfast together. Hector and Miche, a contact given to Sarah in Anchorage, arrived the next morning to resupply Sarahand we sympathized. I will be invited to eat in their house in Whitehorse a few days later while Sarah will have a little break to equip his bike for the coming winter…
The next morning, temperature was only a rainy 38°F and I admit having had much heart ache to see her having to cycle in this wet and cold weather…
5. Kluane Lake has changed its face in this autumn weather.
6. Gray atmosphere in rain and snow at higher elevations.
7. This time not pleasant for hiking, after a pause in Haines Junction, I decided to go to Mush Lake by a 4×4 route.
8. Left only at about 5 PM, this trail will prove more difficult than I imagined and I reached Mush Lake only at about 9 PM, at night, after some impressive passages of this trail made really slippery by continuous rain. Here, a long water crossing where I wondered which way to take.
9. While the rain stopped during the night, I discovered the lake in the early morning.
10. What a nice camping spot! I’m obviously completely alone there.
11. Back on the same trail…
12. … surrounded by marshes, again and again.
13. Another nice river…
14. … that VivaLaVida crosses without problem.
15. Back on pavement, I made a detour to Katlyn Lake while the weather cleared.
16. VLV continues heading South on Haines Highway…
17. … crossing some passes with great ambiances.
18. What colors!
19. It’s still cold up there, no more than 36°F in afternoon, and the clouds hang to the mountain tops.
20. VivaLaVida on the Haines HWY.
21. Altitude tundra.
22. I make some detours…
23. … here to discover Million Dollars Falls.
24. And go further towards South.
25. …
26. Late afternoon at about 3,300 feet elevation.
Next to come soon… 😀
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