WEEK FIVE

BACK TO MENU

On we roll toward Haines. Here is our morning view from our campsite at Destruction Bay on the Haines Cutoff Road.

The Haines Highway was beautiful but the best pictures are the grizzly bears. We were so close I wasn't sure I should have my window down. The mother bear could have been at my nosetip in three seconds. However, she appeared nonchalant, so I got my pictures.

Haines is the best of the towns we visited! It hasn't been distorted by the cruise ship industry. Of course, we found the harbor and checked out the boats.

And, of course, more spectacular scenery.

We encountered another grizzly fishing for salmon in a river in Haines. He was successful. It was a little more exciting watching from OUTSIDE the protection of the van, but he didn't seem to be concerned about us and we were careful to NOT invade his space.

Yes, we were close, but I did use the zoom on your camera, Brandi. Honest. We were not being "risky".We camped in the mountains on Haines Highway. We woke up to ice both inside and outside the van. The temperature dropped to 18 degrees or so. The only really hard part was getting out of the sleeping bag and into clothes. It is the fastest I have ever dressed in my life. The ferry had mechanical problems with 2 ships so they were booked solid. We reviewed our route and decided to add Skagway to our itinerary. When you are driving twelve thousand miles, a couple hundred more seems pretty tame. Check out the scenery on the route.

Skagway is definitely a cruise ship town. It is cute but that is not our thing. Four cruise ships were in the dock and people were scurrying around like ants.

We drove a few miles out of town and hiked a part of the Chilkoot Trail. We were amazed at how rugged and difficult it is. The Gold Rush pioneers hiked this with hundred pound packs in the snow and made 10 trips just to get enough provisions in place to be allowed to go on. Simply incredible.

We started seeing signs of bear on the trail. Shredded deadwood, scat, mashed vegetation...we went on for a while but then found ourselves in a bountiful berry patch and saw this fresh bear scat with lots of berries. No question about it. We were sharing this trail with a grizzly and we were in his food source. The trail was so steep and rugged, there was no way we could go around and if we encountered the bear we couldn't have backed away. So we retreated making lots of noise as we went.

We drove on to the Cassiar Highway. We were 150 slow, rough miles from the next...well...ANYTHING. The road had sections that were so rough we could only go 10 mph. I have very few pictures because it rained the whole time. But were blessed with some wonderful rainbows.

This was a 457 mile road, long and desolate. But Bill spotted this big black bear. He was so excited!

Next was the Sea To Sky Highway to Vancouver. The scenery continues to be amazing.

We met Brian and Laurel in Vancouver. They had reserved a suite in the heart of the city and researched wonderful places to eat. We aren't camping right now!!!!! Wow. Here is the view from our suite from the balcony.

We wandered all over the city...art galleries, seawall, Stanley Park, Gastown, Davey Street. What a cool city!

People here are so into self expression and totally uninhibited. The People's Art is everywhere.

And now, on to Portland for a week with Brian and Laurel.