July 1, 1996

Woke up about 7:00. Some really, loud, drunken guys were already catching fish across the lake where the creek flowed in. By the time we had breakfast and coffee, they were done, so we got our gear and went around there. The lake had dropped about 2 feet during the night, and we were able to wade out to a dropoff to the deep water. Jason put on a spoon, and I decided to experiment, and put on a rattletrap. He caught into a pretty nice fish on his third or fourth cast, and was very excited. We estimated it to be about 8 poinds. A coho. He went back to camp to get the camera, and I took his rod. Got on a bigger fish almost immediately. It was 28 inches, and we estimated it at 12 poinds. (Being very conservative, of course! LOL) I put on a spoon after that, and we had a coupla strikes but didn't catch any more. Jason did catch 3 Dolly Varden, though. The first we'd ever seen.

Trying to fillet those big fish wiith Swiss army knives was ridiculous. Mine looked like it had been eaten by a bear. Jason's came out pretty well. Thank goodness the wood had dried enough so that we could get a fire going. The salmon was delicious! Jason even ate some. We could not possibly eat it all, and didn't want to take it on the ferry with us, so I went all over the campground trying to give it away. I guess even the people up here have heard too many stories about Halloween candy, as I only got rid of a little of it. We finally put it back in the lake for the bears. I guess the people that use that campsite next, may have hungry bears for visitors!

Caught the ferry for Haines that night. Our friend Bob was on it too, but he's only going to Juneau. Met an interesting group of guys from the Netherlands, Germany, and New Zealand. They entertained us for much of the trip.

July 2, 1996

We slept under the solarium in lounge chairs this time. The ferry was not very crowded. There were a few small ice bergs around, but I didn't take any pictures. Expected to have plenty of opportunities later, but that was a bad decision! Hopefully we can tour Prince William Sound later and I can get some shots then.

I managed to come down with a severe cold. I think as a result of fooling around trying to build the fire to smoke the salmon. My reaction to smoke seems to be getting worse and worse. I basically lay in the lounge chair all day and drank orange juice. Hopefully it will pass soon, but I suspect it will be one of those 10 day things.

Haines is magnificent! A beautiful little coastal town, with the mountains jutting upward from the sea. The colors are layered like a poilly fuisse The sea is emerald green, surrounded by silver grey rocks along the beach. Then a layer of deep green fir forest on the base of the mountains. Bright green grass lies above the firs, and bright white snow caps the peaks with white fingers of snow jutting down the shadowy crevices.

The ferry was late getting in, and took forever to unload. We didn't get to the campground until after 11:00, and it was only a 15 minute drive. Fortunately there was still plent of light to set up camp, even though it's overcast!

July 3, 1996

We were all tired, and slept in this morning. We decide to get a room for the night and rest up. My cold is a little better, but still pretty bad. I want to make sure we have a room with a phone so I can check my e-mail at work. I've been able to get to AOL and AT&T, but not A&M (all those A words!). But I was foiled again. You could charge a call to your room, but to do so, the operator had to interrupt to get the room number. The computer did not like talking to the operator! I could get to 800 numbers, and could again reach AOL and AT&T, but my work mail remains unread. Too bad! My cold is still bad, and I spent all evening nursing it and doing my e-mail thing. Jason went for a hike, and JT went shopping.

Then we all settled in for a good evening's sleep.

July 4, 1996

Independence Day in Haines, AK and there's big doin's goin' on. A parade this morning, a raft race this afternoon, and fireworks tonight. We decide to hang around for it. Had breakfast at the Bamboo Room. I had two eggs and two pancakes. The pancakes were monstrous. I couldn't even eat two!

We headed out to the Chilkoot River, as we'd heard the sockeyes were starting to move in. Fished for several hours, but the salmon had other ideas. Jason again caught 3 Dollies, and I finally caught one small one... 'bout 8 inches. There is a weir in the river here. It's basically a bunch of steel rods that stick down into the water. The rods block the fish as they go upstream, so they can be counted. Apparently they count each and every one. The operator tallies each fish, then raises a coupla rods, so the fish can head on upstream. We found out the count yesterday was well over 200, but today it's running much lower... just our luck. One of the local guys, who is fishing in Tevas, shorts and a T (we're freezing in hip boots, jeans and heavy shirts), tells us that you need a count of at least 200 to have a reasonable chance of catching a fish. Oh well, maybe next time.

We set up camp again, have some dinner, and head for the Pioneer Bar for some brewskies before the fireworks. The firework spectacle doesn't start til 11:00. Thank goodness by then it was almost dark! The bar bill was outrageous. $12 for a pitcher of Alaskan Amber. It was only $2.50 a pint on the ferry. But the fireworks were nice. The setting was beautiful, of course.

Made it back to camp about 12:00. Gonna hit the highway toward Fairbanks tomorrow.

Oh yeah, saw several bald eagles. This is really eagle country in the fall and winter. The chinook salmon run late in the year, and around 3500 bald eagles gather here to feast on them.

July 5, 1996

I guess we are all still tired, as we slept til 9:00. Wanted to get an early start for Fairbanks, as it will take two days. But it's noon by the time we eat, break camp, and get supplies in Haines.

The Haines Highway turns out to be an incredibly beautiful drive. More of the evergreen forests and snow capped peaks... miles and miles and miles of them. It's awesome... humbling even.

We picked up the Alaska Highway in Haines Junction. The Haines Highway was in excellent condition, and we made great time on it. But the Alaska Highway is in really bad shape in some spots. Long stretches are being totally reworked, and are just mud and gravel. And it's much more crowded. Well, not really crowded, I guess, but all the traffic is motor homes, RV's and trucks, and they really plod along.

Jason and I picked out a spot on the map where we hoped to do some grayling fishing, but it was not scenic at all and there were no good campsites, so we went on to Deadman's Lake. It was about 9:30 when we got there, but still very light out. The sites weren't great and there was no drinking water, but it was free. And the sign said there was good fishing for northern pike. Seeing a sign like that is like seeing semis at a restaurant. Surely the fishing would be good! 

So we set up camp and grabbed our bass rods. The lake was surrounded by grass and lily pads. The ground is what they call "muskeg" I think. Real spongy. So we waded in gingerly, and this time I managed to stay dry. Jason put on a Zara Spook, and I used a grass frog. He got a strike and caught a fish almost immediately, so I switched to a Spook also. I caught one soon, about the same size as his. We had several more hits, but didn't land one. It seemed like it would never get dark. The trees here are spindly little firs, and they don't block any light, and it is not cloudy. I fished until 11:45 pm, and JT was still reading by the light of day when I went back to camp!

We had a late dinner.... about 12:30, I guess. And hit the sack about 1:00. We had finally gotten into some of the mosquitos that we'd heard so much about, and some got in the truck with me and kept me awake. I don't think I got any bites, though. At least none that bother me.

Jason woke up about 8:00. I woke up, but was feeling very tired and slept for another hour. Finally I was afraid he was going to be catching all the fish, so I crawled out of bed and got dressed. He hadn't started to fish yet, so we went down together. I put on the grass frog again, as I was tried of trying to wrestle that Spook through the weeds and lily pads. I got a strike almost immediately, and Jason switched to a frog, too. He got several hits, but I couldn't entice one with broiled lobster. I tried my fly rod for a while, but did no good with it either. After a coupla hours and only two or three wimpish hits, I was ready to give it up. Jason was getting strike after strike but managed to land only one or two. It's amazing how they get away... they strike so viciously that you'd think the hook would never come loose, but they manage to throw it somehow.

We finally packed up and hit the road for Fairbanks about 1:00. JT wants a place with a shower tonight. I don't know why. We had showers two days ago in Haines. Silly girl.

Fairbanks was less than we expected. JT had picked out a campground based on the description in our handy-dandy Berkeley guide, but it turned out to be a pretty grungy RV park. We checked out a campground on the UA-Fairbanks campus, but it wasn't nice either. The campus was, though.

Next we scoured the town for a cheap motel, but even the fleabag places were going for 100 bucks a night. Really.

So we hit the Safeway, scored some pretty good cheddar for less than $2 a pound and a box of fine Franzia mountain burgandy for $10.98. Not a bad haul, alll in all.

We made what I thought was a bad decision and headed down the road toward Denali National Park, in the hopes of finding a place to camp there. There are almost no campgrounds on that stretch of road. We pulled into Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn (I'm not kidding about that) and I was ready to just stay there, as it was free and there was a bar. But not a free bar. JT was obviously displeased, so we headed for Nenana (rhymes with banana).

Sometimes I do get lucky. We found a nice little RV park with showers and everything. It was clean, cool and quiet. Well, almost quiet. Turns out Nenana was having a street dance, as it was Saturday night of the 4th of July weekend. We could hear the band playing CCR and lots of '60's and '70's stuff. So after we set up camp, showered, and walked downtown. It was after 11:00 when we got there, but still light, of course.

The setting and cast of characters here was more bizarre than Northern Exposure. Really. Americana Alaskan style. The band was set up on a big flat bed truck. They were asking someone (anyone) in the audience to help with the sound system. The bass guitarist was a pretty hot little brunette with really, really tight black jeans and a white T top. She appeared to be in charge. Dressed like that no man would argue with her. Just stand there and say "Yes, ma'am" and hope to get laid later. There was another woman on keyboard, one really spacey looking guy on bongos, two guys on guitars and a black singer. In the audience, I remember one hefty blonde with white shorts, tight white T, and white cowboy boots. A few tourists. Lots of drunk Eskimos and other locals. Not many were as fastidious as JT! Short, fat, tall, skinny... yes, even Skinny Dick hisself was there, in the flesh, so to speak. (No, not that flesh!) And we didn't get to see how he earned his name either. Unless it's really because he's skinny and his name is Dick.

The black vocalist did the national anthem at midnight. It was actually quite touching. Not a great voice, but you don't need a great voice in this environment. Everyone in the ludicrous crowd stood up. They honest to God believe in America up here. It was still dusky light with titty pink clouds over the mountains in the background. We headed back to camp right after that, and called it a night.