Summer in Haines!



Enjoying the Davidson Glacier and it's followers.
by Angie

 

Finally!  Summer has come to Haines. Mother Nature has been quite generous this week, and we are thankful.

The sunny warm days are upon us here in Haines, and I did not waste any time getting my hiking partner rounded up.

 

 Last weekend Holly and I hiked part of the Seduction Point Trail out to the Chilkat Inlet across from The Davidson Glacier at Moose Meadows. 

Arriving at Moose Meadows, we sat on the shoreline taking a break and enjoying the long awaited warmth from the sun.  As we sat there staring at the beautiful day and it’s backdrop of mountains and water, our dogs swam in the salt water and chewed on tidal wood. We both agreed that, “this is what we live here for”, this moment.  A moment is worth it all sometimes!

Sierra & her mighty Kelsall jetboat coming upriver
from the confluence.
by Angie

                        

THE CONFLUENCE OF THREE RIVERS!

A confluence is an area where two or more bodies of water meet up.  In the case that I am talking about, many of you have been to the confluence of the Chilkat, Klehini, and Tsirku Rivers.  

If you boarded a jetboat and headed downstream past the bridge with one of the riverboat captain’s, you went to the “meeting of the rivers.” 

As you are entering the confluence just above the Village of Klukwan, the first body of water you see joining up with the Chilkat, is the Klehini River. It is the largest tributary to the Chilkat and runs about thirty six miles from it’s headwaters in British Columbia.

  “DID YOU KNOW?”  Parts of Walt Disney’s 1991 rendition of Jack London’s movie White Fang, was filmed on the Klehini River.  And, during the gold rush of 1898, the famous Dalton Trail also followed the river through Pleasant Camp (US & Canada Border) and into Canada.  You can also catch a glimpse of the river on the Discovery Channel when the crew of Gold Rush Alaska is filming a crossing of the Porcupine river bridge.

The second tributary to the Chilkat, is the Tsirku River which is just below the first junction of the confluence. The Tsirku is glacier fed by the Tsirku Glacier on the Alaska, British Columbia border; the river begins and ends in Alaska.

 This area is known as the Tsirku Fan, or “Alluvial Fan” and is about four miles wide.  This is where a great deal of water is trapped underground for long periods before being swept back out and into a five mile section of the Chilkat River.  This section is the part of the river that runs through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.  The river does not freeze in the winter, leaving it wide open for the eagles to feast on the late runs of Chum and Silver salmon that migrate to the area and it's tributaries to spawn.  There are several hundred eagles that are year round residents of the area and a couple thousand more migrate here for the yearly feeding, making this the largest concentration of bald eagles in the world.

A FEW COMMENTS FROM OUR GUESTS

**Hey Angie, We are the Showalters, who took the river cruise on July 11, 2012. We were in the group that saw the bear on the side of the river. We have just returned home and have gotten our pictures developed. I will try to send you a pix.

Thanks so much for this great trip. We loved it, and when we return we will do this again.

 

Kay and Robert Showalter.

 

 

**Angie, It was a bit chilly on the river (we were there July 2nd) and we didn't see a large quantity of wildlife, but what we did see was great and I was able to get some good photos from the boat.

Thanks for the good experience. cb

Bald Eagle in Nest on Chilkat River
by CB

4th of July with The Zaandam Eagle
by Jerry Earnie