Haines is gearing up to welcome summer visitors. One early group has come from Whitehorse, but Haines was not quite ready.
The first cruise ships of the season are docking this week in Haines. The sun is out, the snow mostly melted, the streets are being cleaned. Haines is ready to welcome visitors. Almost.
A group of Whitehorse students have come to spend the week. They are part of an experiential education program called Community, Heritage, Adventure, Outdoor and Skills. That spells CHAOS. Chris Hobbis is an instructor with the program.
Hobbis: “We are down in Haines to have a bit of a variety of experiences and looking at different things, looking at the traditional trade routes and the interactions between the coast and the inland historically.”
The program teaches history, politics, and also kayaking. Today the students are at the pool to learn some paddling and safety skills. But they are also there for the showers. It turns out Haines is not quite ready to host this group of independent travelers.
Hobbis: “Yeah, things are a little bit different, you know, we’d come down assuming that we would have a lot of opportunities for tenting and camping and those kinds of things.”
Instead, the thirteen students and three instructors have had to improvise. James is one of those students.
James: “We couldn’t find a campsite, so we were all really tired and hungry on the bus.”
Hobbis explains they have not found any open campgrounds. The roads to the Chilkoot and Chilkat campgrounds are closed. The private campgrounds are closed. The Portage Cove campground may not open at all this year. They could barely find any facilities.
Hobbis: “No bathrooms or showers. So we’ve been kind of finding the spots where the public outhouses are unlocked, and as far as showers we are lucky that we are able to come to the pool today.”
Another similar sized group of visitors had better luck. The small cruise ship Wilderness Explorer docked in town on Tuesday. Twenty passengers were on board, and they explored Haines and the surrounding areas.
Reba Hylton is the tourism director, and she says the passengers rented electric bicycles to explore the town, and hiked local trails. She says visitor center staff is focused on beautifying the town. She worked on designing a new sign for the visitor center. Hylton says facilities in town are only just opening up.
Hylton: “We are doing our best, we are a little short staffed here, but we have opened the restrooms here at the visitor center, and down on the dock, and at Tanani point, those are open as well, so we are ramping up and getting ready for all the guests, and the street cleaners have been out and about, garbage cans are out on the corners , so we are pretty much ready to start receiving our guests now.”
On Thursday evening, the Brilliance of the Sea, a large cruise ship, is scheduled to dock in Haines.
Hylton mentions that community trash pick up is going on this week, and encourages residents to pick up a yellow bag outside the Haines borough offices. The collected trash can be disposed of in the dump truck parked by the pool.
Regarding campsites, Hylton says at least one private RV park will open on Friday. State parks superintendent Preston Kroes said he expects the roads to Chilkoot and Chilkat State parks to open by May first, and their respective campgrounds to open shortly after, when all the snow has melted.
As for the group of canadian students, they have found help from a local and are camping on private land on Lutak road. They will return to Whitehorse on Thursday.
