April 18th

Haines, AK
10 AM -- John took us towards Haines in his automobile. We first visit the various native attractions, including a traditional longhouse.

We stop along the way to walk a mile of trail inside the bald eagle preserve. We dont see any eagles up close, but the trail is nice, with boardwalks, tourist info signs, and viewing telescope. John shows us some white rams on a mountainside, seemingly miles away.

12 PM -- We hiked 3.8 miles in the rainforest along the shoreline, south of Haines.

On the beach, the rocks drastically crunched away underneath us, soaking up our footsteps, but in a dry way. The hike was surely the highlight of the day, because the forest was so cool, with its supernaturally squishy ground, plethora of babbling brooks, many ups and downs, and ice swaths to precariously scooch across without falling. Andrew failed at least once in the scooching.

The sunlight streaming in through the densely packed trees (most of which were lush green) was a photo-enticing sight. The hill/mountain rose up on one side of us, while the blue sky and blue water of the bay was visible clearly when we looked the other direction. Perfect weather.

1 PM -- The Pioneer restaurant. We ate halibut wraps, fish 'n chips, "happy face" fries (which resembled donuts sorta). John and Geof got some local beers from Haines Brewing Company.

2 PM --Went on a wild goose chase for onion wine. The restaurant (where we saw it on the menu) couldn't sell us a bottle of wine to go, so we went to a local liquor store, which was sold out, then another liquor store, then to the winery where it comes from, and that was closed. So, crap. Zwiebar is what the wine is called. Andrew settled for Elderflower wine.We saw a couple eagles were circling in the sky. Driving back to John's house, we saw 3 bald eagles within a few hundred feet of each other, all perched on trees.

3:30 PM -- Parted with John, we were very thankful for the accomidations and the local experiences. John seemed really happy that we took time to come and visit. He also provided us with lots of great recommendations and points of interest for our weeks to come.

4:30 -- Insane snow! White out!

6:30 PM -- Arrived at Lake Kathleen, YK. It was a snow covered Provincial Park, one of the few such parks actually open during winter. Its highlight is an iced over wind-swept lake with towering mountains and vast pine forests in the distance.

A truly amazing and unique thing to see. We feared to be buried in the massive drifts of snow, and in just a few minutes the Subaru was iced over and Geof had to move it a few times before finding a place where it wouldn't be buried by the fierce stinging snow. The "shelter" there was a modern looking building with large windows looking out on the lake and the mountains.

The building had picnic tables and 2 huge cast iron stoves. We still aren't sure wheter camping in that structure was allowed, but we saw nothing to say otherwise. It was warm and inviting inside. Hardwood floors to sleep on (though Andrew chose one of the huge picnic tables on which to set his sleeping bag). Roughly cut firewood was freely available in a shed outside, and there was even a keen axe there for the splitting of logs.

7:30 PM -- Geof quickly got a fire going in one of the stoves. We cooked up ample portions of hearty lentil pilaf and the shelter remained around 58-65 degrees for the duration of the night.