Chilkoot River Bears

Our main reason for returning to Haines was the possibility of seeing bears feeding on salmon along the one mile long section of the Chilkoot River between Chilkoot Lake and where it empties into the Lutak Inlet.  We had very good luck during this visit and saw many grizzly bears, including six sows with from one to three cubs each, for a total of 21 individual bears.

During our first visit to the river, we were advised to keep an eye on this path down to the water.  We were told a specific bear tended to frequently use this path going to and from the river.

Sure enough, we saw this bear use that trail a few times.

This cub managed to discover an interesting object.

We also saw many Bald Eagles during our visits.

Unfortunately, we were not the only spectators.

Chilcoot Lake above the one mile river section where the bears are found

Fancy caterpillar seen on the access road

A cruise ship visiting Haines

Valdez to Haines

After leaving Valdez, we took the Richardson Highway and the Tok Cutoff to get back on the Alaska Highway.  From Tok we took the Alaska Highway to Haines Junction in the Yukon and then drove the Haines Highway down to Haines, Alaska.  This part of our trip gave us some of the best fall colors we have seen.

The Wrangell Mountains from the Richardson Highway

The Copper River and Wrangell Mountains from the Tok Cutoff

After Fireweed has finished blooming, the seed pods eventually start producing these fluffy, snow-like seed puffs.

Nice color along the Alaska Highway

Near Kluane Lake in the Yukon

The St. Elias Mountains in Canada's Kluane National Park

A few images from along the Haines Highway

Columbia Glacier - 2018

Since the weather looked great, we booked a boat tour down to Columbia Glacier.

Our catamaran  cruise vessel

The mountain sides along our tour route were filled with waterfalls.

Eroding cliff face

Prince William Sound scenery

We cruised past a popular Stellar Sea Lion haul-out area.

Horned Puffines

Bald Eagle

We start nearing Columbia Glacier.

Lots of glacier calved icebergs in the bay

As Columbia Glacier has retreated, it now has separate arms still reaching the bay.

The west arm

The wider east arm

Splash from ice calving from the glacier front

After leaving the glacier we came upon a large iceberg with several sea otters hauled out on the ice.

They did not like our presence and quickly departed.

We also came upon a small pod of transient killer whales (orcas).