Haines Area State Parks
Haines is not only one of the few Southeast Alaska communities accessible by road from the mainland but it's also one of the few to boost Alaska state parks, state recreation sites and state marine sites. Not one or two but six, making this town of 2,300 residents an outdoor playground for the thousands of visitors who pass through during the year.
The largest at 6,049 acres and most developed unit is Chilkat State Park 7 miles south of Haines. Other parks include 80-acre Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Site northwest of Haines, 7-acre Portage Cove State Recreation Site within town and 5-acre Mosquito Lake State Recreation Site 27 miles northwest of Haines off the Haines Highway.
Haines also has two undeveloped state marine parks. Chilkat Islands State Marine Park is a group of islands just south of Chilkat State Park that cover 6,560 acres. Further south of Chilkat Islands is Sullivan Island State Marine Park, a 2,720-acre unit that sits at the south end of Sullivan Island. In both marine parks beaches are rocky and anchoring is very difficult, making kayaks the best way to visit them since they can be carried onshore and have a shallow draft.