United States
Haines
Thousands of bald eagles gathering on one river in the shadow of coastal glaciers.
They line every bare cottonwood along the Chilkat, white heads by the hundred and then by the thousand, until single eagles stop registering. The late-autumn air smells of river ice and spawning salmon, and the sound is not a screech but a high, chittering whistle.
Each late autumn, thousands of bald eagles congregate on one stretch of the Chilkat River outside Haines, drawn to a late salmon run kept open by warm upwellings that hold off the freeze; the preserve protecting the gathering is famous as the greatest concentration of the species anywhere. The viewing is absurdly easy, roadside at the Council Grounds with binoculars from the car window. Haines itself sits on deep Lynn Canal water between glacier-hung peaks, one of the Inside Passage's rare road-connected towns, the link between the roadless ferry communities and the Alaska Highway. Fort William H. Seward, the early-1900s Army post above the harbour, now houses artists' studios, a Native dance company and beds in the old officers' quarters.
Solo
Roadside eagle-watching, a walkable arts district in an old fort and ferry links onward make this an easy deep-Alaska stop without a tour package.
Couple
Watch a few thousand eagles from the warm car, then retreat to a converted officers' quarters with the Lynn Canal going silver below.
- Thousands of bald eagles gather on the Chilkat each late autumn, feasting on a late salmon run that warm upwellings keep flowing.
- The Council Grounds put the gathering at roadside; binoculars from the car window are genuinely enough.
- Fort William H. Seward's parade ground now holds artists' studios, a Native dance company and rooms in the officers' quarters.
- Haines is one of the Inside Passage's rare road-connected towns, the link between the ferry communities and the Alaska Highway.
Unfiltered, unpasteurised beers from the town brewery, hand-crafted in Haines since 1999.
Smoked salmon from a Fort Seward smokery, vacuum-packed for the ferry out and rarely surviving it.
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