Welcome to Haines, known as the Adventure Capital of Southeast Alaska and the end of the trail for the local Chilkat Tlingit group, who portaged their canoes from this point to save paddling around the longer Chilkat Peninsula to trade with the interior. This morning found most of us on an early bus ride to Klukwan, where we were treated to a dance performance and interpretive tour of a Chilkat Cultural Center before floating on rafts back towards the mouth of the Chilkat River and Haines. Beautiful early autumn mists and dozens of bald eagles presented ideal photo opportunities along the river!
After lunch, we dispersed to stretch our legs on walking and bike riding excursions around Haines and to take turns on flight-seeing tours over the glacier-clad mountains between the nearby Chilkat Inlet and the eastern arm of Glacier Bay National Park. Having the chance to see these massive rivers of ice carving out the landscape above our heads was nothing short of surreal. Our photographic stories of Alaska continue to grow, and we look forward to seeing what the rest of the trip has in store…
