Kluane Lake to Haines & Locating a Welder

When we got up this morning at 7:00, the semi trucks and their escort vehicles had already left. The 3 RVs and 1 truck that spent the night were still here. Before leaving this morning Mike set the CB radios in our RV and car to Channel 20, so we could communicate with each other instead of using the walkie-talkies which we used yesterday.

We left Kluane Lake a little after 8:00 and headed south on AK-1 with Mike leading in the RV and me following in the car. We hadn't gone very far when I saw this grizzly bear walking near the highway and just as I stopped to take a photo, he walked behind a bush.

From Kluane Lake to Haines

Then 40 minutes later I saw another grizzly walking near the highway and just as I stopped the car, the bear started rolling around and playing with a tree branch. I also shot a movie of him walking near the highway.

From Kluane Lake to Haines

Not too long after seeing the bears, it started raining again and the temperature has stayed around 48°.

We stopped at a Petro Express in Haines Junction to get gas in the RV (41.54 gal @ $5.258 gal) and the car (6.35 gal).

We turned south onto Hwy-3 and drove on the smoothest road we had been on in a long time. Unfortunately, it only lasted about 45 miles and then we were back on gravel roads and it was still raining.

We saw this herd of horses just after we crossed the Yukon border into British Columbia.

From Kluane Lake to Haines

We stopped at Haines Highway Summit at 11:30 to fix lunch. We were at 3510' and the temp was 36° - Brrrrrr!

From Kluane Lake to Haines

We crossed the Alaska border about an hour later and were now back in the Alaska time zone, so we gained an hour.

From Kluane Lake to Haines

We passed by this fish wheel in the Chilkat River just north of Haines and I stopped to take a photo and movie of it in operation. The wheel scoops up fish in the baskets and then the fish slide down a shoot and deposited in a holding tank.

From Kluane Lake to Haines

We arrived at Haines Hitch-Up RV Park at 12:30 and checked in.

From Haines

We asked if they could recommend a good welder in town and the owner gave us a name and phone number. Long story short - the 1st welder had just left to work for 2 weeks on the Alaska Ferry and the 2nd welder recommended was out working on a crab boat.

The third recommendation was John's Tires. John did have a receiver hitch, but he was going to have to make some adjustments because of some differences and it would be Monday before he could work on it. We made an appointment for 9 a.m. Monday and then drove back over to the campground and set up the RV.

Mike called the Alaska Ferry office and explained the situation and changed our ferry reservation from Monday to Tuesday. Then he called the campground in Skagway to change our reservation there. Then we went down to the campground office and extended our stay here for one more day.

After getting settled in we left the campground to explore Haines and find a place to eat dinner. I've made a separate post because we saw a lot and it'll make this a REALLY long post if I include it here.