Going to Haines - A Real Alaskan Town

Journey from Juneau to Haines, Alaska

On Sunday 30th April I took the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry to the town of Haines, population 1,811. On the ferry journey into Alaska one month ago I met two lovely individual travellers, Robin and Eli. Both talked of Haines being a beautiful little place to live. Robyn said the views had brought tears to the eyes of a few visitors she had shown around. Eli said Haines missed much of the summer tourist swarms that pollute downtown Juneau, spilling from the cruise ships that double the town's population in one foul swoop. Since arriving in Juneau, Haines was on my mind. It became the town I imagined living in - South enough to miss most of the summer mosquitoes, North enough to classify as 'real Alaska', with all the bells and whistles that accompany this title (mostly glaciers, mountains, whales, forests, people toting guns, eating home-caught smoked salmon, etc).

It was snowing in Juneau the Sunday evening we boarded the boat. Robyn and her partner Jeff had been in Juneau for a course in plant grafting and reconaissance tour of all the larger, more bountiful shops, so their van was packed with everything from brassiers to peat moss. On the ferry I took my up my favorite spot: the top rear deck under the solarium glow, wrapped in my sleeping bag, reclined on a deckchair. From there I oversaw our slow separation from Juneau and pondered my Alaskan adventure novel, Into The Wild.