Things to do in Haines, Alaska

It’s been almost two months since we returned from our Alaska/Yukon road trip, and I have to say that it’s still hard to move on from it. In this article, I’m going to tell you about an important part of our trip—if not one of the best, in my opinion: our discovery of Haines. We hadn’t planned to spend that much time in Alaska, but plans changed while we were there and we ended up spending almost half of the trip there. In my first article on Alaska, I gave you a complete guide to the town of Seward on the Kenai Peninsula, where we spent more than a week.

Today, I’m going to give you an overview of things to see and do in and around Haines. For the record, we hadn’t planned to visit Haines at all. If you look at a map, you will see that the town sits at the end of the road and you have to take a ferry to get to Skagway (which we did) or turn around. Talking to someone who lives in Homer, at the tip of the Kenai Peninsula, we learned that Haines is a very nice, quiet little town (compared to Skagway, which has a completely different atmosphere) and that you can see bears in the wild quite easily. After thinking it over, we decided to make the trip there. The kids were overjoyed at the prospect!

In short, here’s a quick guide to the must-see places in Haines!

If someone asked me why I came to Haines, I’d be hard-pressed to give just one answer. Looking back, it wasn’t at all what I had expected. I hadn’t really looked into what the town was like and it turned out to be a wonderful surprise. Personally, I loved it. It’s one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen, although Seward and Homer are also magical in their own way!

Take some time to explore the town at your own pace before I tell you about the highlight of our stay (the bears). We walked around this little town for several hours and I have to say it was really enjoyable. There weren’t many people around when we visited, especially compared to the crowds of tourists we encountered a few days later in Skagway (which, as you can probably guess, was not one of my favorite places).

At first glance, you might think there’s nothing special about the town, but if you take the time to look around, you’ll realize just how beautiful it is. The views of the surrounding mountains are magnificent, and you get the feeling that you’re in the middle of nothing, which, in a way, you are. We also took the time to visit the town’s brewery (Haines Brewing Company Inc.). We spent a good hour there tasting the locally brewed beers. In fact, you can order small glasses to try the different beers on offer. It’s a very pleasant place, and the tasting experience is excellent.

As you head toward the end of the fjord, stop at the edge of the town to take in the different views across the surrounding area. With the beautiful colors of the fjord and the snow-capped mountains in the background, it’s a real treat!

The main reason we came to this beautiful part of Alaska was to see bears and other wildlife in the wild. As I said, we followed the advice of someone from Homer, so we were very eager to discover the area for ourselves.

To get there, you have to pass through the town of Haines and head north along the Lutak Inlet. If you look at a map, you’ll soon realize that Haines is at the end of the world, at the head of a fjord over 200 km long. It’s also a dead end, and the only way to continue is by ferry to Skagway.

In short, we continued along this arm of the fjord, which, on a clear day, is beautifully colored. We’re over the moon because the place looks sublime and it wasn’t very crowded.

At the end of the road, we reached the Lutak Bridge, roughly at the entrance to the Chilkoot River. As I said, we didn’t know this place, but when we arrived, we realized that it is quite well known, especially for salmon fishermen. The salmon swim up the arm of the fjord and then along the river to Chilkoot Lake.

We first took some time to walk along the river, which is simply magnificent. You can see many fishermen in the middle of the river, who don’t seem too bothered by the bears in the area. They all seemed well aware of the bears in the area, which was fairly reassuring. Further along, we reached the famous Chilkoot Lake, which is truly breathtaking.

On our first evening, we were lucky enough to see a brown bear crossing from the opposite shore in our direction. We had the chance to watch it quietly cross the river in search of food. It was a truly magical moment, and the children were thrilled to have such a spectacle right in front of them. You have to be careful though, and on several occasions the local rangers have moved tourists who were trying to photograph the bears from a little too close. We learned that if a bear charges toward us, we’re clearly in trouble, because it can run much faster than we can…

We ended up spending three days in the area and came back several times during the day to watch the bears. I particularly remember one evening, at dusk, when we were lucky enough to see a bear from fairly close by, just below us. It was an awe-inspiring and captivating experience.

From what we heard locally, bears are very common in the area thanks to this famous river where the salmon swim upstream. So, if you’re nearby and still hesitating about visiting, I hope this story will inspire you to make the trip.

To stretch our legs after a few weeks in a campervan across Alaska and the Yukon, we decided to go to the tourist office in town, which pointed us in the direction of a number of hikes in the Haines area. There’s a lot to choose from, but with our two children, including Téo, who walks well but cannot yet manage long distances, we opted for an easier option: the Battery Point Trailhead. The link above takes you to a full description of this wonderful walk.

The trail passes through a magnificent coniferous forest before offering breathtaking views of the fjord, its colors and the surrounding mountains. A half-day walk, where you can take your time with the children, is really ideal!

In addition to this walk, here are some other classic Haines walks:

• Mount Riley Trail (8.2 km round trip): Situated in Chilkat State Park, it’s a 463 m of elevation gain, alternating with muddy forest trails, but the 360-degree views of the surrounding mountains from the summit are spectacular. Accessible mainly between June and October, the trail is sparsely used and well signposted. Allow around three hours, plus extra time to enjoy the views from the summit.
• Mount Ripinsky (6.6 km round trip): Mount Ripinsky is a fairly strenuous hike with a elevation gain of almost 1,000 m. You’ll alternate between rainforest and very steep sections before reaching the summit, which offers stunning views! Beware of the steep sections and the descent. Allow around six hours of walking depending on your fitness level.
• Ayiklutu Trail (20.6 km round trip): This hike is a long trail of almost 21 km round trip, with a elevation gain of 580 m, classified as difficult (due to its length). You’ll enjoy passing through forested sections, rough sections with quite a lot of mud depending on the season, and beautiful beaches along the way (where you may have the place almost to yourself, haha!). Along the way, you’ll enjoy great views of the surrounding glaciers and mountains.

We didn’t have enough time to explore this lake, but there are certainly opportunities for paddling and kayaking from the end of the road. The place, next to a campground, is truly sublime and I would have liked to paddle for a few hours in this dreamlike environment. In the end, all I could do was watch other people out on the water!

It’s also a great place to try your hand at fishing. Every evening during our stay, we came here to get some fresh air, enjoy the scenery and watch the locals. You meet lots of people who come to have a drink, enjoy a barbecue (you have to get there early to get a place) and fish. The atmosphere is always lively and friendly.

We stumbled upon this place by chance and asked Pascale to look after our two little monsters so we could enjoy a little time as a couple! We spent an hour enjoying the place, and found the interior very welcoming. The owners were very friendly, and we had the chance to chat with them.

The advantage of this brewery is that they offer small tasting glasses (10 cl, if I remember correctly), which means that you can taste several local beers, all brewed on site. Our favorite was the spruce beer, and we tried six or seven different beers in total. Frankly, it was great!

That’s it for what to see and do in Haines. This list is certainly not exhaustive, but if you’re passing through and have the time, you can easily spend a week here, especially if you’re into nature, whether it’s bear watching or hiking!

As usual, here are a few words about the practical details of reaching Haines.

It depends on where you’re starting from, of course. As we live in Guadeloupe, it’s quite a journey to get here. We took one flight to Montreal, another to Vancouver, and a final flight to Whitehorse, which is the capital of the Yukon. We then rented a campervan and spent a month traveling around the Yukon and Alaska. You can compare flights on sites such as Skyscanner.

We’ve also met a lot of people traveling by rental car who, like us, use the DiscoverCars site to find good prices.

Once you get there, there is only one road leading to Haines. It depends on where you’re coming from, of course. Generally speaking, you have to go through the town of Haines Junction, about 150 km west of Whitehorse (Yukon). From Alaska, we came through the town of Tok, over 700 km to the northwest. You can also come by boat from the town of Skagway. This is what we did when we left Haines and headed back toward Whitehorse Airport at the end of our trip.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about this here, as we simply stayed in our campervan in various places around the town during the few nights we spent there. However, I’ve decided to write a full article on where to stay in Haines if you’re looking for good places to spend a few nights!

That’s it for this article on Haines. I hope this little story and the photos have inspired you to explore this place. As I said at the beginning, we hadn’t planned to come here at all and we really enjoyed it. That’s what traveling is all about!

To keep dreaming and traveling, I invite you to discover the extraordinary day we spent on the boat exploring the fjords in Seward! It was simply magical!

Written by Sylvain PONS

Twice, over a period of about 2 months, I had the opportunity to explore several corners of the United States, taking advantage of the best it has to offer. I decided to share some of my experiences with you!

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