Still more Haines exploring
I was unable to figure out a logical break in this post, taking time and number of photos into consideration, so this is a rather odd one.
At about 10:20 on Friday, August 23rd, we crossed over the Klehini River from the Haines Highway to explore a bit of the historic Porcupine placer gold area. The next photo looks north up the river from the middle of the bridge.
“The historic Dalton Trail. You are about to travel over the route goldminers and suppliers used during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. This route was historically used by the Tlingit people to trade with interior Native people…”
Driving west along the Klehini River, ten minutes from the bridge.
Crossing over Porcupine Creek at 10:50. In the distance the Big Nugget Mine, once owned by the late reality TV series “Gold Rush” star John Schnabel, can be seen.
At 11:00 we found the road, now going up Glacier Creek, gated. The area is controlled by Constantine Mining, who have posted a map and information sign there.
A side road goes to Glacier Creek, but that road ends at a literal “bridge to nowhere” 🙂
The view up Glacier Creek from that bridge is spectacular. Aerial images show two main glaciers fed by a vast icefield.
On the drive back, I spotted a couple of old buildings. The first was too rotten to be of interest, but the second one prompted us to do a bit of bushwhacking. We were soon at a road we could drive up, through the former gold community of Porcupine. The Sheldon Museum has posted a history of the mining and community.
The next photo shows the largest building we found, a residence with a large storeroom perhaps.
Greg thought he remembered seeing a two-hole outhouse here, and we found it behind the building above.
There’s not much left now, but this postcard from my collection shows that it was a booming place 120-odd years ago. Note that it says “Porcupine Creek, Yukon” – it’s now officially in Alaska, about 10 km from the border.
We took another detour on the way back to the highway. Once a logging road, the Sunshine Mountain Road climbs high into the mountains, but new growth has eliminated the great views it used to offer.
Back at the Haines Highway, we drove a few miles north to the 33 Mile Roadhouse and had an excellent lunch. It’s been a common stop for me for many years, solo and with tour groups, and I can always count on a very pleasant experience.
Heading back towards Haines at 1:45.
A very different view just 2 minutes later.
After I had a rather short nap, we drove over to Fort William H. Seward for more in-depth local exploring. Dejon Delights was closed.
We spent quite a while in The Wild Iris art shop.
The Port Chilkoot Distillery was our final stop at the Fort.
A flight of some of their products was a wonderful taste-bud-awakener 🙂
It was sad to see that the Fireweed, one of the best restaurants in Haines for many years, announced in March this year that they were closing forever because of the condition of the building.
The fairgrounds was the next stop, just curious to see if anything was happening. The Community Garden looked like it was providing plenty of flowers and veggies.
The fake town of Dalton City at the entrance to the fairgrounds was quiet. It was built by Disney Studios to film “White Fang” in 1989-1990, then was donated to the community. A team of mostly volunteers moved the 18 buildings a mile and a half to this location, and some now house various shops.
After a busy day, we all enjoyed a quiet evening in the sunshine at the RV park. Tucker and Bella don’t see much action from their forested yard at home, so loved having pretty much constant action here.
Lots of action on the water, with the MV Hubbard ferry (Skagway-Haines-Juneau), the Haines-Skagway fast cat, and a Zodiac.
The most interesting of the ships to pass by that evening was the Le Soleal, one of Ponant Cruises’ ultra-luxury ships.
Our original plan was to go home on Saturday, but on Friday morning I asked if we could stay another night, and lucked into even keeping the same site. On Saturday evening we got the brown bear experience we’d been hoping for, to top off the week perfectly. Saturday, and the drive home Sunday, are the subjects of the final post, tomorrow morning.
About The Author
