Haines, AK to Burwash Landing, YT: Leaving coastal Alaska toward British Columbia and Yukon Territory

We left the hotel at 7:40 AM to begin our journey up the Haines Highway under brilliant sunshine. It was rather cool in temperature (high 30’s or low 40’s) and there was fog on the Haines Fjord as well as over Mosquito Lake so we wore winter under garments. This early part of the ride is humid and the vegetation is very rich: fox gloves, fireweeds, clover (both rose and white), cow parsnip and large patches of the biggest and happiest daisies (just for you Mom).

The highway takes its time climbing alongside the Chilkat River toward the Canadian border of British Columbia; it winds pleasantly to and fro: a perfect way to begin a ride. The Canadian border formality was short and soon we were climbing into country so beautiful that I cannot describe it. Pristine, sharp mountain peaks, green valleys, strong rivers … and colder and colder air. We eventually dug into our saddle bags to bring out more layers of clothing unused until then (even the balaclavas under our helmets!) Haynes Highway is a lonely road, but the scenery is so majestic that one does not want anything to distract from it. There are no towns, there are no intersections; just nature. Before mounting up I began to put a map in my map holder over my gas tank but realized that for the first time on this trip a map would not be needed: there is only one road!

Soon, we were riding in Yukon Territory, still alongside beautiful mountain ranges. At one point, we came onto a sow bear and her cub alongside the road. She was bigger than the grizzlies I remember seeing in Glacier National Park (Montana) years ago. We observed her – the bikes in gear and pointing away from the bears – for quite a while, giving her space when she came on the road perturbed. I shot a couple of bad pictures: it is hard to twist head and shoulders back with all the clothing we were wearing.

We refueled and ate at Haines Junction, YT - our first taste of the Al-Can Highway. Surprisingly, we kept passing lodges/RV parks/gas stations operations that had closed and were in disrepair. The very few still operating have “for sale by owner” signs, and obviously they are not being kept up nor did they place high emphasis on service. The few where we stopped had older owners who must have operated these places for decades. I do not know if this change is due to the fact that the Al-Can Highway is now completely paved and permits long driving stages. In the old days bad roads forced the travelers to stop more often for overnight stops whereas today they can potentially drive from Whitehorse, YT to Fairbanks, AK in one long day.

The scenery continued to be breathtaking as now more and more lakes appeared in the foreground to the mountains. We gave up on trying photographing it all instead we simply captured it with our eyes and laid it in our hearts as praise to the One who created it all: Jesus.

We spent the night at the Burwash Landing Lodge - Burwash Landing is a Canadian Indian Post for the Kluane First Tribe (Klu – wah – nee.) Interestingly the tribe’s logo looks like an illustration of Aesop’s fable: the fox and the crow (the crow even holds what looks like the cheese in the fable but probably represents the moon in this case). Total mileage: 230.