Day 29 – A Harrowing Drive

The day we rolled into Haines, Alaska, our plan was to stay at one of the two state parks since we didn’t need to connect to water or power. When we were at the visitor center at Haines Junction, we had asked about the roads to the camps and about the camps. The information center worker told us the roads were fine and that both were really nice camps.

Once we got oriented in Haines, we headed out Mud Bay Road to Chilkat Bay State Park since it was a bit closer to town. The road out there wasn’t too bad until we turned onto “New Park Road”. Then we were back to climbing through pot holes on a dirt road. This road has private residences along it, so it wasn’t the actual camp road.

When we did enter the park, there was a sign saying that it had a steep, 14%, grade. Well, that was fine since we have been on steeper grades than that. However, as we started to slowly go down the hill, we came to a couple of hairpin corners. Now, that in itself wouldn’t have been bad either, but on both the inner and outer corners there were deep ruts with loose gravel. These have been made by vehicles spinning their tires as they try to climb up the hill.

Well, those deep ruts with loose gravel on those curves made the camper start to rock back and forth. And since each corner had these deep ruts, the camper didn’t just rock on one corner, but on the next, and the next corner too. The ravine was too close for my comfort!

Later, Pat told me that at least one of the back tires left the road surface. Tipping over was a near thing. Needless to say, pouring a glass of Crown was the first order of business when we pulled into a campsite.

It is hard to believe that a State Park would allow its road to become so hazardous. We can’t imagine what would happen if one of those large RV busses started down that hill.

Early the following morning, Pat put the truck into its 4-wheel drive lo gear and we safely climbed back up that hazardous road and found a nice spot to pull out along Mud Bay road. We took a few minutes to breathe a sigh of relief.




As with most of our travels, the harder parts do not have photos, but this was what we saw as we were sighing in relief. We were wondering if this was the “New” road what was the “Old Park Road” like?

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