Haines Points of Interest

Crowds of bazooka-lens tot­ing pho­tog­ra­phers some­times crowd this stretch to cap­ture brown bears feed­ing on salmon in the wild. It’s a place to see these impres­sive goliaths up close. Keep a safe distance.

Offer­ing indis­pens­able resources like free maps for a vari­ety of trails — includ­ing those for hik­ing, his­toric Fort Seward, and the route to the Yukon — the Haines Vis­i­tor Cen­ter is an explor­er’s hub.

You needn’t hike into the back­coun­try to get pho­tos of throngs of eagles; some the most impres­sive shots are tak­en from here, look­ing out at the braid­ed Chilkat Riv­er chan­nels where the birds jos­tle and com­pete for fish.

This small out­crop­ping once served as a fish camp and mil­i­tary fuel dock and tank farm site. Its rocky beach pro­vides a sweet spot for pink salmon angling and pic­nick­ing dur­ing fair weather.

When they’re short on time but need­ing to get out­side, locals head to these two beach­es locat­ed a short dri­ve and quick hike from down­town. Recent improve­ments have removed rugged and steep sections.

Site of an his­toric dock where mate­ri­als for build­ing For Seward were off-loaded, this fam­i­ly-friend­ly beach is a great spot for dip­ping your toes on hot day and watch­ing cruise ships go sail­ing by.

Locals flock to this unmarked beach, offi­cial­ly state recre­ation land, for sum­mer camp­fires and bar­be­cues. It’s the last place the sun sets in Haines, so it’s an ide­al spot at the end of a long, sum­mer day.

Built like a cathe­dral but with two sto­ries of win­dows to let the out­doors in, the Haines Library is a gath­er­ing spot for vis­i­tors and res­i­dents alike. Three easy chairs at the end of its great hall are a priv­i­leged nook for patrons who get there first. When opened in 2002, Library Jour­nal ranked this as the nation’s finest small library. Find a book or mag­a­zine, sink into the rock­ing chair or an easy chair and soak in the view. You’ll feel like  ...more

Ancient stone fig­ures in the shape of men or cross­es were cre­at­ed by the indige­nous peo­ple of Cana­da, Alas­ka and Green­land. Their pur­pose remains some­thing of mys­tery, with pos­si­bil­i­ties includ­ing nav­i­ga­tion, points of ref­er­ence, or mark­ers for trails or hunt­ing grounds. This one was cre­at­ed by Haines stone artist Judd Mullady.

This unmarked, short trail and plat­formed look­out close to Fort Seward is a secret even to some res­i­dents. Part of a backpacker’s camp­ground, it offers views of the Lynn Canal espe­cial­ly pret­ty in evening’s fad­ing light.

The field where U.S. Army sol­diers once marched and drilled is now pub­lic-use land, a spot to catch your breath dur­ing the climb up to Officer’s Row, or just enjoy views across Chilkoot Inlet. The Parade Grounds turn into a tem­po­rary sprawl­ing camp­ground dur­ing the annu­al Klu­ane Chilkat Inter­na­tion­al Bike Relay. The fin­ish line for the race is locat­ed in front of the Barrack’s building. 

It’s fit­ting of Haines as an odd­ball place to fea­ture art in a burned-out build­ing foun­da­tion, exposed to the ele­ments. Let your imag­i­na­tion fill in the roof and ceil­ing while admir­ing sculp­tures, mosaics and pop art.

What down­town Haines lacks in archi­tec­tur­al uni­for­mi­ty is made up by ​“Dal­ton City,” a town built for the film­ing of the Jack Lon­don sto­ry ​“White Fang” here by Walt Dis­ney in 1990. Res­i­dents res­cued and fin­ished the false-front build­ings now serv­ing as inex­pen­sive sites for start-up businesses.