After Anchorage, we headed south to the Kenai peninsula where we discovered a world gone mad for fishing. The Sockeye salmon runs are the best they’ve seen in 30 years. Some people attribute this to the Japanese fishing fleet having been mostly wiped out by the recent tsunami, giving the salmon a better opportunity to leave the ocean and head back to their spawning grounds in Alaska. Whatever the reason, tons of people were fishing and catching tons of salmon--in Cook Inlet, in the rivers and the bays.
We watched people fishing for, catching and filleting salmon along the water. In some places the shoreline was lined with people standing practically shoulder-to-shoulder in waders in the water. People also fished from boats. Along the beaches “dip-netters” with nets on long poles stood in the water and scooped out salmon.
“We don’t fish, but we eat fish,” we told a woman in a museum.
“That’s better than fishing and not eating the fish,” said the woman. She went on to explain that some people fished even when they didn’t want or like the fish or when they had met their quota for the year. “They throw them in the dump or leave whole dead fish rotting on the shore,” she said.
Needless to say, the peninsula was crowded with all the local fisherpeople plus all the tourists, fishing or not.
You head down the Kenai peninsula on the Seward Highway, which ends in Seward, 127 miles from Anchorage. Not far from Anchorage we stopped at Potter Marsh and walked its extensive boardwalk. We saw a few spawning salmon, several schools of baby salmon, five sandhill cranes and other birds.
Farther down the road we hiked five miles round trip on Winner Creek trail, which starts behind the Alyesha Ski resort. This is a bit farther than I care to hike, especially on a trail I would rate as “moderate” (although it was rated “easy”), but it was worth it. The trail started out in big trees with lush understory, had lots of boardwalk over wet areas,
crossed over Glacier Creek, a glacier-blue, gushing stream and waterfall, and led to a hand tram over another part of the creek.
You use a rope pulley to pull yourself in a steel cage across a wide canyon. It’s a long way down and across, and there are no rails to keep people from sliding off the platforms on either side or getting their fingers caught in the ropes. It was fun and different.
That night we camped in the resort’s parking lot for $10. The next morning a man from another RV came over and gave us some leftover food and three bottles of unopened red wine because he and his wife were flying home that day. It wasn’t expensive wine, but David had been wanting red wine (as a break from beer) and was happy to get it. “You see,” I told him, “the Universe delivers when you ask. Next time you just need to be more specific.”
Back on the main highway we visited the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center where native Alaskan wildlife that has been injured or orphaned is rehabilitated. We spent a couple hours watching the animals, some of whom come right up to the fence.
“This is how I want to see bears,” said David as we watched two grizzlies playing together on the other side of the fence. They also had elk, reindeer, Woods bison, musk ox, moose, a porcupine, owls and bald eagles.
We stopped at Moose Flats and went on the ½-mile Wetland Walk. The sun was shining on the marsh, which was a sea of myriad shades of green with some white flowers thrown in for good measure.
That night we camped at Williwaw, a popular US forest service campground with pretty, well-spaced campsites, no hook-ups and a great view of surrounding glaciers.
Along the Williwaw nature trail three little birds were voraciously eating something in the gravel under a bridge and let me get very close.
The next day we walked up to scenic Byron Glacier along an easy, popular trail to the foot of the glacier under a bright sun. Actually you can see several glaciers as you walk along. The path follows the frigid glacial stream with flowers blooming alongside.
Then we went to Seward. Our trailer’s 12-volt battery is not holding its charge very well, so David decided we’d be better off paying more to stay in a campground with electricity, so we paid $30 for electric and water instead of $15 for no hook-up, but we also didn’t have the expense of running the generator.
The main activities in Seward are fishing charters and wildlife cruises. We chose the latter and spent the following day on a 7-hour Kenai Fjords National Park cruise. The day was cold, grey and overcast, but at least it stopped raining by the time the cruise began. The boat probably had about 150 people aboard and was full. We were assigned a tiny table with another couple from Washington state.
They were in Alaska visiting their son and his family, and we enjoyed visiting with them throughout the trip and while eating the buffet lunch. The boat cruised through Resurrection Bay, out into the Gulf of Alaska and into Aialik Bay where we approached Aialik Glacier and watched big chunks of ice “calve” into the sea with loud roars.
In addition to the impressive scenery, we saw northern sea otters floating on their backs, stellar seals basking on rocks, Dall dolphins gliding swiftly along, a couple humpback whales spouting and breaching and a variety of birds, including puffins, murres and cormorants.
A national park ranger was onboard and provided an ongoing description and explanation of our surroundings.
On the walk back to our campground, we looked at some of the day’s catch, including a 140-pound halibut.
The next morning we visited the Alaska Sealife Center and got a closer look at puffins and other birds as well as other marine life. We learned more about the six different salmon species in Alaska and watched a fascinating video on research to prevent humpback whales from pulling fish off the hooks of long commercial fishing lines.
We left Seward that afternoon and drove a few miles back up the highway to the turnoff to Exit Glacier and then another 8 miles or so to the glacier. It was a warm and sunny day, in the low 70’s, the hottest day so far. We walked right up to the edge of the glacier. Glaciers move slowly downhill, but if they’re not being replenished with new ice, they actually shrink or “retreat”. Most of the glaciers we’ve seen are retreating.
We boondocked that night. In the morning our generator quit working. David found the manuals and diagrams of little use. Later he determined that the wire of the oil level switch had broken. Until he can order a new switch, he jury-rigged the problem by cramming a sewing needle in the broken wire and using alligator clips to jump the broken connection.
This day was chilly and windy, the complete opposite from yesterday. We made a few stops before turning west onto Sterling Highway. It was Saturday, and fishing fever was in full swing. There was so much traffic, it was difficult to get back on the road if you pulled off it. This road follows the Kenai river, a big fishing destination. People were parked beside the road and fishing side by side. The campground we had planned to stay in was full. We eventually drove several miles on a gravel road to a campground off the main fishing drag, and, although it was full, we were able to park in the overflow parking area, which was just fine with us (although we still had to pay the same campground fee).
In the morning we hiked a couple miles on a trail through a nice forest that looked like good bear habitat, but we didn’t see any. Then we drove to Soldotna, a whirlwind of activity because of its location and services.
We navigated through busy traffic to the Fred Meyer grocery store where we found an empty spot in the parking lot to camp for the night. So many people camp here that the store has a dedicated employee to supervise the RV traffic. We shopped and set up the generator.
That evening some people parked behind us. The woman got out of her camper, walked over to ours and looked in the window! This is pretty rude. It’s like someone coming up to your house and looking in the window! I guess she didn’t see me at the table working on my computer (because of the tinted glass). They left and drove around the parking lot. Then they came back and parked behind us again. The woman came back and this time pounded on the window. David went to the door. “How long are you going to run your generator?” she demanded. David was a bit taken aback. Our generator is loud, but we were in a parking lot! He said, “for awhile.” “All night?” she said. “Until around 9:30 or so,” he said. She stomped off, frowning, but they stayed put. A short while later, David went out to tell them he was planning to crank up the generator at 7 am. An older man came out of the trailer. David explained. “What?” said the man leaning forward and putting a hand to his ear. David talked louder. “What?” said the man. It turned out he was hard of hearing. David had to shout for the man to hear him. David told him that the people opposite them had a generator to run a freezer and would probably be running it all night. The man put his hands on David’s shoulders and said that was fine. That evening someone we had met in the parking lot came by and sold us some home-made smoked salmon. It was excellent. At 10 pm, David turned off our generator. Guess who was still running their generator? The people who had parked behind us!! Go figure!
In the morning we had a new problem with the generator--the starter recoil cord broke.
We went to the visitor’s center, walked on the fish walk where we watched people fishing for salmon and filleting their catch, recharged a propane tank and did laundry.
The laundromat was huge and so busy that people were waiting around like vultures for dryers to become available. We went back to camp in the parking lot. I went to the Starbucks in the grocery store to access the Internet while David put a new cord on the generator’s starter.
The following day we went to the “City” of Kenai. We drove around the area, stopping at parks and wildlife viewing areas.
We watched the dip netters hauling in the salmon in Cook Inlet. The visitor’s center had a museum with some interesting exhibits and a video about a biologist who had studied moose for 37 years in Denali.
We visited the old part of town with its Russian orthodox church. In the afternoon we went to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, took a short hike and watched an amazing video on Denali. The day started out overcast and cool. Then it warmed up. Then it got cold. Later the sun came out, warming things up. Then it got cold again and rained. At day’s end it was overcast and cool. We camped again in the parking lot.
In the morning before we left, another camper came by and gave David a two-pound fillet of freshly-caught Sockeye. He said they had exceeded their quota.
On our way to Homer we stopped at a few viewpoints and turned off to see another picturesque Russian orthodox church on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The cow parsnips in the field surrounding the church were as tall as a person.
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| Another RV parked between us! |
We camped in a small campground in the middle of Homer Spit on the edge of a rocky beach with views of mountains and glaciers. Fortunately we had an end campsite because the sites were very tight. Neptune was so afraid of the water (at high tide) he didn’t want to go outside. Plato was so scared he wouldn’t even look outside!
The next morning David determined the sink was leaking so badly he had to recaulk it a second time. He had bought some better caulk. Then we explored the town.
The excellent exhibits on the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center focus on research. We watched a couple interesting short videos--one on Kachemak Bay, the other on wildlife research in the Aleutian Islands, specifically, the attempt to eradicate alien species like rats and foxes that have devastated bird populations.
We walked a few short trails, watched a squirrel busily eating pine cone seeds on top of his midden, a pile of discarded pine cone pieces, and watched two bald eagle babies preening themselves in their huge nest.
We drove along Skyline Dr to a lookout with a fabulous view of Homer and Kachemak Bay. Then we returned to the spit, a 4.5-mile-long narrow finger of land covered with gravel, sand and pebbly beaches. At the beginning of it is a marsh. At the end and along it is a boat harbor, campgrounds and various stores and businesses.
The following day we left and retraced our steps back to Soldotna where we went to the Homestead museum. A woman whose father had homesteaded in the 1940’s showed us around and shared some stories with us.
After that we watched people fishing on the Kenai River. Then we drove a few more hours until we found a large turnout where we decided to boondock since it was the weekend again, and all the campgrounds were full.
At 10:45 pm, someone knocked on the door. We thought it was a park ranger or police officer telling us to move. It was a woman from a car parked nearby who wanted to buy two quarts of motor oil from us because their car was leaking badly. She had a cigarette in one hand, a $10 bill in the other. She was wearing a black jersey pant outfit and plastic clogs. David went to the truck and produced two quarts of oil he had for the generator, which she took in exchange for the $10. She went back to the car where a couple other people were standing. I guess they put the oil in the car. Then they just sat in the car for another hour or so. I wasn’t comfortable having them so close. She said they had to get back to Anchorage. So why weren’t they leaving? Around midnight, another RV showed up and parked in the turnout. A few minutes later, the car started and sped off, in the opposite direction from Anchorage. We went to bed late but slept fine.
The next day as we drove to Anchorage, a non-stop line of cars streamed by in the opposite direction onto the peninsula. I couldn’t imagine where all of them could go. We stopped at a few viewpoints we had missed on the way. At one there was a dog competition where young dogs, from six months to two years, were rated on how fast and how efficiently they fetched a bird. Someone at a distance would throw the (fake) bird, fire a shot and then the dog would be released to retrieve it. At another place we saw a couple Dall sheep on the side of the mountain. Lots of people were parked and looking up at the sheep with binoculars. It’s nice that people are so thrilled to see wildlife. It’s a shame that other people feel compelled to shoot them for fun.
As we drove around a bend of Turnagain Arm, we could see Mt. McKinley looming in the distance above the clouds.
On our second pass through Anchorage, we ran errands and strolled around downtown. We went to an outdoor farmer’s market with crafts and food. It was cold and started to rain. At the Alaska Park Lands visitor center we watched an interesting film on the grizzly bears in Katmai National Park. You have to fly in, but the bears are acclimated to people, and you can get very close to them. 
The following day we drove to Denali National Park. It wasn’t raining anymore, just overcast, cold and windy. At one of our stops we smelled the brakes. David had noticed the trailer brakes weren’t working properly. He found a broken wire on one of them. When we got to the campground, he was able to fix it. 
That night the trailer was buffeted by the wind. It felt like we were back on the boat.
The road was dirt, narrow and winding. In places it was steep with precipitous dropoffs, no guardrails and soft or no shoulders. Also there were a lot of other buses on the road, and passing was sometimes hair-raising. I asked the driver how often buses went over the side. He laughed and said that hadn’t happened in awhile. Even so, I had to close my eyes a few times.
Apparently Mt. McKinley is usually obscured by clouds, and you can expect to see it only about ⅓ of the time, so we were lucky to get some glimpses of it.
I had imagined that Denali would be teeming with animals. I was surprised to learn that sometimes you don’t see any wildlife on these trips. Fortunately, we saw some animals: 2 moose, 7 grizzlies, 12 or so caribous and 1 wolf (who walked by the side of the bus). One of the grizzlies (at a distance) was eating a caribou. 
When we got to Eielson, we started to go on a short trail, but it and all the other trails nearby were closed because there was a grizzly and two cubs in the area (visible at a distance but too far for my weak telephoto lens). We looked at the exhibits, watched a video on climbing Mt. McKinley then got on the bus for the ride back. 
It remained cold and windy all day, but at least it didn’t rain. The sky was a vibrant, pure blue with pretty cloud patterns that cast their shadows across the mountains. 
We returned to the main visitor’s center and finished looking at the extensive exhibits. I really liked the fact that they used fake animals as displays instead of real animal mounts. Everywhere we’ve been, there is a wildlife museum with stuffed, dead animals. These were fake, but realistic enough and ever so practical. You could touch them; they’re easy to clean and will last forever. And best of all, you don’t have to kill any animals. We attended a lecture on all the ways the sun influences Denali and watched an interesting film, Time and Tundra, about park history.
