Five tourists in Haines for bald eagle viewing stopped at 33 Mile Roadhouse for lunch on a snowy Wednesday. They shared eagle stories and were thrilled to share their bear pictures also, but Alison Walters’ visit to Haines was highlighted by a fire department call at the Aspen motel at 5:45 am. She was woken from a sound sleep by the fire alarm, as were her traveling partners, but she saw the smoldering toaster sitting in a pile of slush outside of the motel. A guest at the motel burned his toast that morning, and the Haines Volunteer Fire Department responded. This led to a conversation with Lajuan Messer, a friend also here for eagle viewing. Messer and Walters both agreed that the toaster slots were far too small for average toast and could see why the Great Toaster Fire of 2025 could have been avoidable.
The Lynn Canal Food Web had a team retreat. Meghan Strangland, the Southeast Alaska Food System Manager with EcoTrust, arrived from Juneau with a car full of food from SEAK food bank. After unpacking and organizing the Chilkat Valley Food Hub (CVFH) pantry, the team jumped right into strategic planning. Stacie Powlison will maintain the CVFH as the program is very well used lately. The Victory Garden will be welcoming back Sarah Ammons as their garden coordinator, with additional hours to support the recent garden expansion. In town, Blythe Carter hosted the Henderson Community Farm and Experimental Orchard’s planning session at her house surrounded by a forest of house plants and a one-month-old baby duck named Pip. Thanks to funding from the Chilkat Valley Community Foundation, Liz Landes is ordering supplies to expand and improve production. Erika Merklin is working with the team on a site design for the three-acre field to include water and soil management, a covered gathering space, both a field and greenhouse orchard, and access roads.
The Chilkat Valley Preschool and Alpenglow’s collaborative fund-raising effort was a success this week. Alpenglow owner Nolan Woodard hosted a family movie night that dedicated 20% of pizza proceeds to the preschool. Preschool president Dacotah Russell organized the details after Tammy Lund, office manager, came up with the event and manned the baked goods table. The movie choice was Polar Express. Jessie Wuesthoff, Lucinda Boyce, Kim Philips, Kendra Knight, Fran Daly, Ashley Mason, Ashley Grewe, and Clara Natonabah supplied baked goods. The remaining snacks were donated to the Haines Borough and the hardworking Alpenglow crew walked away with some Rice Krispies treats as well.
A Friday evening pop-up at Haines Brewing, hosted by chef Travis Kukull, drew dozens of people to sample three types of mac and cheese, including kale and Bagna Cauda (flavorful hot Italian sauce), beet kimchi and “regular.” Kukull said he was grateful to brewery owners Jeanne Kitayama and Paul Wheeler for letting him arrange the last-minute meet-up and bring 15 pounds of macaroni and cheese into their place of business. He’s considering starting a community potluck and wanted to see how people would respond. Kukull said he is partially inspired by what he remembers of community wedding potluck dinners when he first moved to the Chilkat Valley. “We have a really strong culture of eating at home here. This would be a way for everybody to get to experience everyone else’s homes,” he said.
The Haines Hot Shots team had a great time competing and socializing during the 2025 Southeast Fall Invitational in Juneau at the end of October. According to Kristy Jamison, the team shot over 350 rounds in two days, competing in events such as the single trap, double trap, wobbles, sporting clays and super sporting clays.
Hannah Jamison placed fourth in the ladies senior varsity division
Jonah Wray placed fifth in the junior varsity division
Jed Mason placed fifth in the novice division
Hazel Wray placed second in the ladies novice division
Among the weekend wildlife spotting reports, Jane Pascoe and Tom Morphet saw a lone sea lion near shore at Kelgaya Point swimming around near a school of bufflehead ducks. Morphet assumed it was perhaps looking to snack on one. And news of orca sightings in Chilkat Inlet spread through town on Sunday. Mike Denker said he was on a beach walk with Rebecca Hylton when she said she thought she saw something in the water. So Denker and wife Lisa Blank grabbed a spotting scope and binoculars and drove to a spot near the Pyramid Island pullout. Denker said it was too far away for pictures, but they saw some big dorsal fins and a lot of activity. Later, he heard that someone saw them chasing porpoises. That’s something Gregg Bigsby confirmed. He said he saw a number of large splashes north of Letnikof Cove, then 20 or 30 harbor porpoises traveling close together, swimming north and hugging the beach. Shortly afterward, he said he saw the killer whales heading north and then south.