Alaska - Day Nine: 2597.2 miles to Kathleen Lake

We woke up early to try to get on a boat trip to Juneau for the day but it was full... :(

Instead we went to the local coffee shop, waited for the barista/baker to return from his grocery store run and had cinnamon rolls and used the internet. Now that boy could bake some mean cinnamon rolls!

We also wandered by the Hammer Museum...

It seems that the main theme in Haines is that they are NOT Skagway!

It was founded as a mission station and Northwest Trading Company post about 1880. Nearby Fort Seward was established as the first permanent Army post in the new territory of Alaska. Troops arrived in 1904.

After coffee and cinnamon rolls, we drove through the old buildings (now private residences and offices) of Fort Seward and then out to Dalton City, a basically abandoned movie set built by Disney for the movie "White Fang".

We chose to hike the easy 1.9 mile Battery Point trail out to Kelgaya Point on Lynn Canal. It was easy and had lots of places to explore...

We decided to enjoy our picnic lunch out at Chilkat State Park on Chilkat Inlet within view of Rainbow and Davidson Glaciers...

Then we stopped by Port Chilkoot Distillery for a tasting and this beautiful rose lemon drop...

On our way to Chilkoot Lake State Park we drove by a man at a fish counting station. I can't decide if that would be the best or the worst job on the planet???

Just before we headed out of town, we went for a tasting at the Haines Brewing Company for one more drink of their spruce tip ale... Mmmm!

The Haines Hwy was built by the military in 1943 as a military access road and was named a National Scenic Byway in 2009. The road was in good shape and wound through tall snowy mountains, green rolling hills and lots of weather and temperature changes.

We stopped at a rest stop/warming station near the summit of Chilkat Pass who was bicycling from Skagway to Haines (remember that's 350 miles)!

Kathleen Lake was lovely but much too windy for kayaking!

We decided to call it a night at Kathleen Lake at the Kathleen Lake Lodge, which was really just camping in some lady's backyard with a pit toilet for when she locked her basement door up at night.

Because we'd stopped a little early, it gave Chris some time to fix the van door before going to bed.