Kat to Koot adventure race 2024 was on, Saturday Feb 17
It was a raging success, with great fun had by all. Join us next year!
-Summit checkpoint on Mt Ripinski (Mt Geisan). Photo: Andy Hedden
Haines Huts and Trails, is a non-profit based in Haines Alaska. We have secured a land lease
from Alaska Department of Natural Resources to build a public use cabin in the
Takshanuk Mountains.
Construction of the Tukga-Hut is underway, and we anticipate a public-opening in Summer 2024.
This will be the first public use cabin in Haines’ backcountry!
We hope that you will consider making a tax-deductible gift to help make this cabin a reality– in one of the world’s most epic wilderness landscapes, perched above our authentic rural Alaskan community!
Located on the Southern flanks of Mt Tukgahgo, at ~3200′, the TUKGA-HUT is approximately 8 miles North of downtown Deishu/Haines and 3 miles from the 7-mile saddle trailhead. Mt Tukgahgo is in the Takshanuk Mountains, which form the divide between the Chilkat and Chilkoot Rivers.
Images from the Tukga-Hut area
Board of Directors
Cindy Buxton
Board Member
Cindy decided to be a geologist when she was 12. The day after getting her master’s degree in 1990 she drove to Haines and started building a cabin. She worked as a field geologist in remote corners of Alaska, then ran a geological consulting business with her husband for 25 years. Her passions are kayaking, hiking, and backpacking. She ran a hiking group
and now is on the board of Haines Huts, with the goal of broadening recreational opportunities for locals.
Greg Schlacter
Board Treasurer
Greg fell in love with the wild places trails lead you to while working on trail & fire crews in Colorado for USFS during summers in college. He‘s excited to be working with the board & HHATs staff on making Haines a vibrant outdoor recreation destination improving access to the region’s wild places. When not in the office planning other people’s adventure travel, you can pretty reliably find him fly fishing on local rivers with his wife, Chris, and pup, Sammy.
Dennis Geasan
Board Member
Dennis discovered Haines while on vacation in
August 1994. After arriving on the Columbia
ferry, an intended overnight stay turned into an
8 day exploration of Haines and eventually
moving to Haines in 2011. Dennis is a board
member of the Chilkat Valley Community
Foundation and provides occasional volunteer
work for Haines Friends of Recycling, Eldred
Rock Restoration, and the SE AK State Fair.
Courtney Culbeck
Board Secretary
HHATS welcomes Courtney to the board!
Gretchen Roffler
Board Member
Gretchen’s work as a wildlife biologist has taken her all over Alaska, but now she calls Southeast Alaska home. Haines has been an important focal point in her home range as she and her husband have been building a cabin here for over a decade. Gretchen has many fond memories of cabin trips which fostered an appreciation of place, an opportunity to get to know people, and a place to dry out wet gear, and hopes that a hut network in Haines can provide the same for others.
Natalie Dawson
Board Chair
Natalie Dawson fell in love with Alaska when she went for a swim in the Teklanika River at nineteen and never looked back. A wilderness guide, educator, advocate and writer, she‘s passionate about Alaska’s wild landscapes and loves to listen to stories from the people who call its lands and waters home. When not exploring glacially-fed rivers, sketchy crags, or chasing winter light on skis, she likes staring at the back eddies on the edge of the Chilkat River.
Eben Sargent
Board Member
HHATS welcomes Eben to the board!
Kevin Forster
Board Vice Chair
Pining for snow covered mountains, Kev happened upon the upper Lynn Canal when he was 19. He forgot to go home.
In Haines, he dabbles in Environmental Science & aviation upholstery.
He is forever grateful to Haines Huts for helping him realize his dream of having a ‘home’ as close to the top of a mountain as possible.
Erik Boraas
Outdoor Initiative Coordinator
A life long Alaskan, Erik was born and raised in Soldotna. He was introduced to trail building at 8 years old when his father tasked him with holding a rake over his head in the alders so his father knew what line to brush for the Tsalteshi Ski Trails. This fostered a love of making the beautiful lands of Alaska accessible to everyone. He has restored historic cabins, worked as a wilderness ranger and spent 10 years as Executive Director of Trail Mix, Inc. in Juneau. He is excited to bring his expertise and knowledge to Haines to develop a world class hut and trail system.