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A blunt and modern place 160km from Whitehorse, with a fine mountain-circled setting, HAINES JUNCTION (pop. 796) mushroomed into life in 1942 during the building of the Alaska Hwy as a base for the US Army Corps of Engineers during construction of the Haines Road - a highway that connects with Skagway's sister port at Haines, 174km to the southeast. Today it's the biggest service centre between Whitehorse and Tok in Alaska, boasting plenty of shops, a handful of accommodation possibilities (contact the visitor centre for B&B details) and lots of tour and rental companies for river-rafting, canoeing, fishing, cycling, horse riding and glacier flights in the Kluane National Park. It's the national park's eastern headquarters - the park covers a vast tract west of the Alaska Hwy well to the north and south of the village. The combined Parks Canada and Yukon government Visitor Reception Centre is on Logan Street just off the north side of the Alaska Hwy (Yukon Tourism May-Sept daily 8am-8pm; Parks Canada May-Sept daily 9am-7pm, Oct-April Mon-Fri 10am-noon & 1-4pm; tel 634-2345 or 634-7207). The village also has its own information line and Web site (tel 634-2519, www.kluane.com ) The cheapest of the motels is the Gateway (open 24hr; $80-100; tel 634-2371) on the junction of Haines Road and the Alaska Hwy; it has rooms with kitchenettes, laundry and cafe and a few serviced sites to the rear. Or try the Kluane Park Inn (tel 634-2261; $60-80; open 24hr) or the nonsmoking Raven Hotel & Gourmet Dining (tel 634-2500, fax 634-2517, kluanerv@yknet.yk.ca ; $80-100), a central place with a decent restaurant that includes breakfast in its room rate. Foodies will love their elegant evening meals, but you're looking at around $80 a head. The Cozy Corner Motel & Restaurant (tel 634-2511; $60-80) lies just down the Alaska Hwy on the corner of Bates Road. The simple Pine Lake campsite ($8; May-Oct) is 7km east of the village signed off the Alaska Hwy, or there's the bigger and more central Kluane RV Kampground in town (tel 634-2709; $12; May-Sept) which has wooded RV and tent sites, laundry and a grocery store. The best general place to eat is the popular Village Bakery & Deli (7.30am-9pm daily; tel 634-2867) on Logan Street across from the Visitor Reception Centre.
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