Haines Road to Haines Summit and back to Haines Junction

17 May 2015 - Sunday

Woke to a beautiful morning. On previous trips I had noted a trail north of the campground. This morning we headed along the trail to explore it.

Mountain scene from the trail

Hiking trail
Good enough for the truck?

Trail
Rolling up and down on the trail

A couple of kilometres in there were fresh tracks on the ground - bear and moose.

Bear tracks!

The rest of the hike we yelled and whooped at each other to give wildlife a heads up that we were in the neighbourhood. Didn't see any other sign of the locals though.

Back on the Haines Road we continued south into clear blue skies and warmth.

Continuing south on the Haines Road

Mountain scene from the highway

Haines Road
Continuing south

Lake
Some lakes were melting

Glave Peak coming into view, south of the Haines Summit

Mountains
Snowy mountain scene

It was chilly at the Haines Summit so we figured we carry on northward to warmer temperatures, and maybe find those Willow Ptarmigan that I enjoy photographing.

Heading north again
Turned around and heading north

Haines Road near summit
Approaching Haines Summit northbound

It wasn't long before the snow disappeared and the landscape opened up.

Highway scene
Further north the snow was gone!

The Chuck Creek area was deep in snow so not ideal for ptarmigan. We continued north until Kelsall Lake where I had photographed the birds before. First I saw a Golden Eagle with its lunch.

Golden Eagle beaking off at me, later I realized it had lunch at its feet