Before we left Kenny Lake RV Park we took time to go out and gather some Diamond Willow branches ourselves in the area the park owners had told us was OK for us to cut. Diamond Willow is actually a half tree half large bush willow that has a disease that causes the places where the branches shoot off the main trunks to be indented in a diamond shape. It is harvested in this part of Alaska and sold in gift and tourist spots after the branches have been debarked and polished up. Often used for walking sticks and is strikingly attractive when finished properly. Dick will have to wet and bark them once we get back to PA and make a walking stick for each of the 6 grandkids.
One other major plus we had at Kenny Lake RV Park was meeting and getting aquainted with Jim & Bonnie Larson, full time RVers who also own a Discovery. These delightful folks have been full timing for 2 1/2 years and listening to them makes us want to consider it even more. We hope to see them again along the way.
Heading down highway 4 and highway 1 toward Tok Junction we finally happened upon a moose and her calf in a pond alongside the road. We kept meeting folks who have seen losts of moose but while we have seen many bears and the wolves in Denali we just had not seen moose other than in Anchorage. Strange luck I guess.
After spending a night in Tok and seeing Jim & Bonnie again we headed toward Haines. When one drives to visit Haines as we did, you have a choice to drive back up the same road to Tok Junction and then take a two day drive around the mountains to go to Skagway or elect to take the ferry for 17 miles between the two seaports. Given the current high cost of fuel we have elected to take on a new adventure and try totake the RV and car onto the ferry.
Driving on toward Haines we entered back into Canada with no problems at customs and pushed on thorugh this beautiful country toward Haines Junction, which while a major milestone on the road is a very small community. We turned south at the junction looking for a place to stay the night. We chose to dry camp along the highway in a pull out by Rock Glacier Trail. This was a first for us to be so openly camped by ourselves in such a very desolate place along the highway but it was sure quiet. While we have experienced many glaciers this one is different in that it is actually a large "river of sharp rocks" with a nice boardwalk erected to lead visitors up to a good vantage point. As always Pat snapped photos of wildflowers along the way.
To continue on to Haines the road first took us back into Yukon Territory, then back to BC and finally into Alaska again. God this is BIG COUNTRY up here and the distances are immense! WE LOVE IT!
Arriving in Haines we needed to choose a campsite and chose to drive out through town to a beautiful place called Chilkat State Rec Area that offers beautiful over the sound views of two impressive glaciers, Davidson Glacier and Rainbow Glacier. (see photo). The only surprise was the 14% downgrade with several hairpin turns on the gravel road into the park. We detached the Saturn to take the grade and I still bottomed out the hitch on several places! But, it was worth it and we had our choice of almost all the spaces!
We toured downtown Haines and its few shops. Haines has an old US Army post that has been restored and converted into something of an artist area. Cruise ships can make port here although most do not preferring to go further up the water to Skagway. We visited Chilkoot State Rec Area, the other state run camping choice to look for Bears near the salmon counting wier across the river. We were fortunate to see a large female grizzly and her one cub very close to us right along the river and later observed her again on a tidal flatt where they fed on some grasses and berries. Took lots of pictures and videos of them and the fishermen that were fairly nearby in the river.
Next morning, after sleeping in to nearly 9AM, but before we were to take the ferry, Dick drove across town to go salmon fishing where we had seen the bears. He caught and landed 6 nice Pink salmon and lost a few more using a black and pink Mepps spinner. He had a ball and released them all as the freezer is rather full.
Our adventure on taking the ferry to Skagway hopefully is not typical of one should expect. The ferry (costing $152 for the RV and $77 for the Saturn) we scheduled to take was to leave Haines at 6:45 PM and after a short one hour trip over the 17 miles of water we planned to have dinner in Skagway after making the drip in daylight. Well not quite! Our ferry didn't leave until after 9PM. I drove the RV onto the ferry and was directed to park it where I would have to back it out of the very tight space and turn it around in order to drive it off. The ferry was not a drive on one end and off the other but a park it in the lower hold vessel! It got dark as we left the pier and we cold not enjoy the scenery so we attempted to get something to eat at the ship's galley. Well by the time we got there it was closing, seems that no one had told the cooks that loading was delayed and we had to beg our way to obtain something to eat as it was going to be too late to find a place to eat in Skagway. When we arriv ed at Skagway the ship couldn't get the brow to lower to drive the vehicles off and it took awhile until the crew managed to manually lower it.
Fortunately, we had made what was only our second advance reservation for a space on our whole trip to date, the other being in Denali Park, and Pat was able to use her cell phone to appraise the park of our delay. The gracious park owner was waiting for us when we finally arrived shortly after 11 PM.
Next morning, August 18, we toured around downtown Skagway, discovering that there were three large cruise ships in town that day. We picked up our second batch of forwarded mail at the Skagway post office, (Thanks to our son DJ) then decided to look in the shops. Big mistake??? Pat found a set of Alexandrite ear rings (her birthstone). Then off on the famous Skagway train ride up through the pass and dangers that the initial gold rush miners had to climb. 
It was a really neat train ride and most of the cruise ship passengers were riding in cars added to the back of the train after the train backed down right by the piers. Unfortunately the weather was one of the very few rainy days we experienced in the whole trip and the scenery, while very impressive, lost some of its beauty to the clouds and fog. We do strongly recommend however taht anyone coming to Alaska plan to include Skagway and the train ride in their plans.
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