Oceanside RV Park Haines, Alaska USA

Mileage:  43,015

We drove back to Otter Falls very early this morning.  We saw a pair of owls and what we thought was a golden eagle.  We also saw a porcupine waddling down the road.  Apparently he didn’t want his picture taken and again I got the behind of the porcupine!

Tim took care of the tanks and fuel while I worked at the Otter Falls Truck Stop Cafe to post the blog from the past couple of days.  Our work was done and we were on our way.  We wanted to head toward Haines, another side trip off the Alaska Highway.

We saw a couple of grizzly along the road.  I saw a lynx hunting in the taller grass.  He jumped and had his paws wrapped around his breakfast.

Once we turned onto Haines Highway we saw another grizzly and some tundra swan.  Tim saw a moose down in the water below the highway.  The remarkable thing about this drive is not the wildlife though.  This road is one of the prettiest rides we have ever taken.  The snow capped peaks, the wildflowers, the color of the sky, the clouds hovering over mountaintops, the trees, the lakes and rivers, the sunlight and the rock…it was stunning.  Tim has been monitoring my use of adjectives…pulling me back when I get too descriptive or flowery.  Today he agreed that the scenery on this ride was stunning.

We met a group of bicyclists from the Sierras in California.  They were riding bikes up and down these very steep slopes.

We road into Haines and saw the first campground but it seemed pretty ordinary.  When we arrived at Oceanside RV Park, we knew we had to stay here.  This is the view across the water from our campsite.

After a short rest we drove to the Chilkoot River.  When the salmon are running, this is one place where the grizzlies come to feed.  Unfortunately the salmon don’t really run for another couple of weeks.  It is a lovely place and we did spot some eagles.

We were invited to a dungeness crab feast this evening.  The owner here often hosts gatherings of campers so that they can experience Alaskan cuisine and visit with other campers.  This is usually something I would avoid but I’m glad we said yes.  We got to help clean and prepare the crabs.

We met people who had been to Alaska before and others who are on their way for the first time.  We spoke at length to a young man from upper state New York.  It was really fun to spend time getting to know him.