Let's Just Go Somewhere: Skagway and Haines, AK

We arrived in port at Skagway, Alaska, early Wednesday morning.

From our room, we could see the Skagway train which carried 2 or 3 tours daily further into Skagway and on into the Yukon territory of Canada.

We considered going on this train excursion but really wanted to do something where we would get a little further out into nature so we signed up for a fishing trip that would have a maximum of 6 people in Haines, Alaska.

We disembarked off the ship around 7:15 and a shuttle picked just the 2 of us and took us to another cruise ship where we picked up another couple. There would only be 4 of us on this trip which would be even better!

After picking up the other couple, the shuttle took us to another dock in Skagway where we caught the "fast ferry" to Haines. The ferry had plenty of seating inside which was good because it was cool and misting rain.

On the ferry ride to Haines, we could see several different waterfalls coming down from the mountains...

...and when the clouds started to break, we got some glimpses of the mountains too.

The "fast ferry" actually took about 45 minutes to get from Skagway to Haines, Alaska, which was about 14 miles by water but that was faster than the alternative by car which would have taken about 9 hours! After the ferry docked, the sun came out and gave us a little brighter picture of Haines, Alaska.

The fishing guide arrived in a van shortly after we docked in Haines and picked us up to drive us about 12 miles up to Chilkoot Lake. As we were riding, the guide told us about how the bears came to the river and lake to feed on the spawning salmon this time of year. Just when we wondering if we might get to see one, Chuck looked out of the driver's side of the van and spotted a big mama brown (grizzly) bear and her cub.

The guide stopped the van so we could watch the mama bear and her cub eating the foilage.

The mama bear and her cub were no more than 8 - 10 feet from the van. It was so cool watching mama and baby...from inside the safety of the van!

After mama and baby bear headed back into the woods, the guide drove us on to the lake where we got into a pontoon boat so we could go salmon fishing. The skies were overcast but it wasn't raining. A perfect day for fishing!

The lake was a light green color clouded with glacial silt.

We rode across the lake for about 10 minutes and pulled off at an area where the salmon were spawning.

You could see the salmon up in the clear part of the water near the shore.

Chuck didn't catch the first fish of the group; but he caught the 2nd fish (a sockeye salmon) ...

...and the 3rd fish (a pink salmon).

I caught the next fish which was a bigger sockeye salmon that I didn't want to hold because he was bleeding everywhere.

Then, Chuck caught a Dolly Varden which is a fish that is native to the lake.

While we were fishing, we could hear an eagle screeching and looked up and saw one perched in a tree.

The salmon were laying in there so thick that we caught a large portion of the fish by snagging them or "foul-hooking" them in the tail or fin. It seemed like the more fish we caught...

...the bigger they got.

Chuck caught more fish than any of us (about 15); but I caught the biggest one! I could barely hold on to it long enough for Chuck to take the picture.