July 2

 Tuesday, July 2

Today we started back the Sterling Highway toward Seward.  It was still quite foggy with temperature 44 degrees, but the sun would come out a few times and there were some blue skies!

We started off early with coffee and egg mcmuffins from our favorite internet spot. The views across Cook Inlet were still fogged in, so we will have to take it on faith that there were mountains and active volcanoes over there.

We decided to take a side road to Anchor Point to see what was there.  This is another fishing village along Cook Inlet.  What we found there were lots of eagles and other birds either feasting on fish scraps or waiting for other boats to return.

2 adult eagles with chicks

 They do what they call tractor launching of boats here - the tractor is almost half submerged as it floats this boat.

Tractor launching boat

We took a few more detours, like Cohoe Loop, and the road up to Captain Cook State Park.  Saw a few moose and this pretty lilly pond along the road.  Walked on the rocky beach at Captain Cook and enjoyed the warmth of the sun.

Beach at Captain Cook State Park

Blue sky reflection.

Next stop was The Washout, a laundramat, car wash and shower facility in Soldotna.  This place was recommended by someone along the way, and it was clean and warm and pleasant with great steamy showers.  

We decided to take the Skilak Lake Loop road again.  This time there was a big sign at the entrance that said" 4-wheel drive vehicles only,  proceed at your own risk."  Since we were just on this road two days ago, we were a bit mystified and went on.  No significant changes, still a rough gravel road, but doable.  We enjoyed watching this moose for quite a while, foraging for food under the water.

Enjoyed this beautiful scene at Hidden Creek overlook.   The color was amazing.

We pushed on to Seward and, after driving through town a bit, found a place to boondock on Dieckgraeff Road, just north of town.  Two campers with boats shared the quiet spot.   Enjoyed meatball sandwiches for dinner!

July 1, 2013 Kenai Peninsula to Homer

Monday, July 1

We headed down the Kenai today, first stop in the town of Kenai.  Their visitor’s and cultural center had nice displays of First Nations inhabitants.  Also watched a film on Alaska and actually recognized some of the places we’ve been!

Types of Salmon

The Sterling Highway winds its way down the Peninsula to Homer and has a few interesting side roads.  We stopped at Kenai docks – lots of fishing boats – and Kenai Landing which is a 1920’s salmon processing place that they are renovating with restaurant, rv park, etc.  but it wasn’t ready. 

Ninilchik is a small town that had a neat harbor. Fishing, particularly for halibut, is very big and some of the fish caught run into hundreds of pounds.  Saw a few bald eagles in the area and walked on the beach a bit.  Cool rocks.  There is another Russian Orthodox church (Transfiguration of our Lord) on a hill overlooking the port.  Most of the current town of Ninilchik is a few miles away. Here and south to Clam Gulch area is also popular for clamming. 

Rainy on and off and heavy clouds.  The views across Cook Inlet to Mt Redoubt and several other active volcanoes, etc. was pretty much a fog bank.  Sometimes the fog itself was pretty cool, though, like this approach to Homer.

view of Homer spit

 Homer had the Islands and  Oceans Visitors Center which sponsors a lot of research and had interesting displays.  We took a walk along Beluga Slough to the rocky beach.

 Next we went through Homer and out onto the spit.  Homer Spit is composed of a rocky moraine left by a glacier and is about 5 miles long.  There are lots of fishing operators, fish processing places , campgrounds, restaurants and shops.  We ran into Marty and Gayle at Captain Pattie’s Seafood restaurant where we enjoyed some fresh salmon and halibut, as well as yummy clam chowder.

Had dinner at Captain Pattie's

Marina on the Spit

There were a lot of people camping on the spit, so we opted to climb the East End Highway to Skyline Drive which overlooks the Spit. 

After taking in the view we found a place to boondock at Carl Gwin Nature Center and we were the only folks there!  Nice and quiet.  The rain has stopped but temperatures in the 40’s.

June 29, 30, 2013 Anchorage

Saturday, June 29

Cloudy day, starting around 60 degrees.  We went first to the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail and walked. The trail goes along the arm of Cook Inlet, and the tide was out, leaving lots of flats.  This area (all of Cook Inlet) has a huge bore tide which can change up to 30 feet in a few hours, so the flats we are seeing will be covered tonight.  

diver at Westchester Lagoon

 Walked from Elderberry Park  just past Westchester Lagoon.  Saw gulls and ravens and quite a few ducks with ducklings. A good number of walkers, joggers and cyclists.  Good way to get the blood flowing.

 From here we went a few blocks to downtown Anchorage for their Outdoor Market.  Anchorage is Alaska's largerst city, with 53% of the total state population. Lots of food, crafts, some clothes, jewelry, photography, etc.  Food ranged from salmon chowder and reindeer sausage to funnel cakes and corndogs.

Looks like you could find just about anything in Anchorage, from Sushi to Theater, Universities to Dog Sled stores.  Since we didn't need any of that,  we said farewell and headed south, down the Seward Highway toward the Kenai Peninsula. The road follows the curve of Turnagain Arm, part of Cook Inlet, and offeres some great scenery and stops, like Potter’s Marsh, Beluga Point, Bird Point, the Chugach Mountains, and across the water the Kenai Mountains.  Stopped at the Arm Pit Barbq (despite or because of the name?) “where northern exposure meets southern smoke”.  Smelled like home J and the food was pretty good – pulled pork and brisket.

 We exited at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, which had been recommended.  Lots of Alaska animals like Elk, Moose, Bear, Lynx, Bison in spacious enclosures.

 

Lynx

  The road to Portage Glacier was next, with views of several glaciers along the way, and beautiful lakes – this one had chunks of ice floating in it.

 

Walked a bit and then found a campsite at Black Bear Campground, a US Forest Service campground with minimum facilities.  Campgrounds nearly full this weekend!  There has been a marked increase in traffic and campers since Denali – school’s out and lots of families traveling. Turned in early and slept late – catch up!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Passed the Welcome to the Kenai sign.   Slow going with traffic and Roadwork. We had read good things (salmon, bears, etc.) about the Russian River, so decided to stop there.  We parked at Russian River Campground and hiked about 3 ½ miles on a good trail to the Russian River and Falls.  Though we saw bear skat and heard about several bear sightings, we didn’t see any.   The Falls were a series of smaller falls but we didn’t see any salmon jumping.  We did pass a few fishermen on the trail, and later saw lots of them at the Russian River Ferry crossing.  Best I can tell, we are at the end of the first run of red salmon.

There are five or six kinds of salmon and that many different runs (when the salmon head up river from the sea), beginning in June and ending in September. The salmon don’t eat on their journey, so catching them is sort of luck and the fishing is extremely regulated in order to ensure enough of them reach their final destination and spawn.  Residents who do subsistence fishing have more leeway.

  We decided to take a side ride, the Silkat Loop, which is gravel but used to be the main road.  Within the first few miles we spotted this black bear, a moose, rabbit and assorted birds.

 Road not too rough.  It winds through forests and lakes, with several campgrounds and lodges.  We are entering popular hunting and fishing territory but there was very little traffic.  Some gorgeous views.

We got back on the Sterling Highway and ended up at a Fred Meyers store in Soldotna.  Mike and Eileen, from our group, were there, along with a lot of campers, so we shopped and parked there for the night.

June 27-28 Palmer, Eklutna, Anchorage

Thursday, June 27

Began today at 57 degrees, mostly sunny.  Our first stop was the Iditarod Headquarters near Palmer.  They had a good film about sled dogs, some dogs, history of the race, etc. 

Doggie booties, many dogs wear these for all or part of race

 Stopped next at Palmer Hays Flats, which is a game refuge mostly for migrating birds.  Only a few ducks, but beautiful field of Alaska Iris.

Note garden on roof

Next we headed northeast on the Glenn Highway to Matanuska Glacier.  Someone we had run into back in Talkeetna recommended it, and it was pretty awesome. We drove down a steep and gravel road to an access point and then hiked to the glacier and clambered around on it a bit. The landscape of the glacier was amazing. It was  carrying a lot of rocks and debris, so as the top layer thawed you could sometimes walk on gravel, rocks, boulders, and dirt, with  more of the same trapped in ice beneath your feet. Some places were pure ice, a beautiful bluish tint or white.  

Drips formed rivulets which formed small streams which carved their way to  a few bigger streams , eventually leaving the glacier and forming the Matanuska River.

 Greg retrieved a few rocks for our collection.

Late afternoon, we headed back to Palmer.  Did some grocery shopping at Fred Myers  and stayed in their parking lot overnight.  We bought a pre-cooked roasted chicken and made a salad, and finished with an ice cream sandwich.  Ahhhh.  Great night except for the street cleaning machine which cleaned the parking lot between 1:00 and 2:00!  Oh well….

Friday, June  28

Today began as very cloudy and 61 degrees but the temperature actually dropped.  We stopped at the Palmer Police station and got directions to a service station which sells propane and filled our tank.  Nice, friendly people.

We drove south and stopped at the tiny town of Eklutna, which is mostly Athabascan.  Visited St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox church – the original log one built in 1870 and the newer one built in the 1960s.

The feel is definitely Russian, with many icons, some which came from Russia. Though originally mostly a Russian parish , the congregation eventually became mainly Athabascan converts.  The cemetery shows the mixing of the two cultures, as Athabascan “spirit houses” mark many of the graves.  Some simple, some quite elaborate.   Both the cemetery and the newer church are still active.

From here we headed into Anchorage and its visitor’s centers. One of Anchorage’s titles is City of Flowers, and it had a wonderful assortment of bright and cheerful flowers everywhere!

We watched a couple of well-done films on Alaska at the Federal Building, where we had to present ID and go through a metal detector (back to civilization!)  Talked about the area and got some more maps and literature on upcoming destinations.

We went a few blocks away and visited the Ulu factory where some of the Ulu’s are made.  They showed a film on manufacturing and had a demonstration on how to use these clever knives.  Just a few blocks away is Ship Creek, and since the salmon were supposed to be running, we walked over to have a look.  We were disappointed not to see any salmon struggling upstream, but probably not as disappointed as the many fishermen – we didn’t see any salmon caught but lots of trying….

Left downtown and found a campsite at The Golden Nugget RV Park.  Not too much more than a large parking lot with a little grass and few trees, it DID have wonderful hot showers and (very slow) wi-fi.