July 14 - Homer

Now that I am drugged up for my back we decided to finally take our tour across the Inlet to the small town of Seldovia. Unlike the day before we lucked out with a SUNNY day.  It was a lovely, quaint town. Their claim to fame is Memorial day when they have a Chainsaw Carving competition. Some of the carvings were just wonderful. They have 3 days to finish them from a freshly cut log. We had a nice lunch and walked the town. Wonderful cottages built on pilings over the water. Lovely day and we were back by 6PM.

This was the prize winner this year.

We had been given permission the day before to camp overnight on a vacant lot across from a cute coffee bar and decided to spend another night there.  Tomoorow our friends, Jeff and Marnie Nelson, will be joining us. We are excited to see them.


 

Soldatna - July 8

After a leisurely morning we headed for Soldatna. On the way we stopped at the Exit Glacier. This is one of the 36 glaciers that come off the Harding IceField. This Icefield is the largest in Alaska. If we had been able to complete our tour yesterday we would have seen several more of the Glaciers. The Exit Glacier is one that you can walk almost to the face and touch. we had a mile and a half hike out to it.

After we left the Glacier we drove to Soldatna. It was a largere town than we had thought it would be. We have found that the interior of the kenai is a lot flatter and has a very different feel from the East side especially because we couldn't see the mountains. we missed them. we pulled into a Fred Meyers and grocery shopped. While we were in there Garry aked a local where a good place would be to go for dinner for our Anniversary.  We lucked out as we were going to stay parked in the parking ot there overnight an we were able to take a path through some woods and ended up at St. Elias Brew Oub. We had the best Chicken Ranch Pizza we have ever had. We had some of their own brewery beer and there was a local band playing that night. after splitting a huge piece of homemade Peanutbutter pie we waddled home.

The next morning we finally had some SUN! We tored Soldatna dna then drove to Kenai. There is a bit of Russin history here also. We finally got to Kasiloff where we made plans to meet with George and Dot. They were another couple that we met on the Ferry. George is an avid fisherman. We stayed at a SP Campground for 2 nights. The Kasilof River ran right by the park but Garry was unable to catch a fish there. The next morning George picked up Garry and they drove to 4 different places to fish. No luck. They arrived back for lunch and then headed out again. This time Garry cam back with a Salmon!!!

Salmon for dinner!  The next morning they were out from 5 - 7AM. No luck.  George took Garry out to the mouth of the Kenai River to see the DipNetters. Sorry, no pictures. Dip netting is done only by Alaska residents. They have a 5 foot square or round net on a long pole that they stand along the bank and hold in the water waiting for the incoming salmon to run into. They are allowed 25 fish per household plus 5 for each member in the household. When we got back from observing the dip netters, George went to get a newspaper and came back and told me that the fish count for the Kasilof where we were fishing at 5AM only had a count to 6 sockeye salmon during the hours we were fishing come up river. Guess it was not our morning. After saying our Goodbyes we headed down to Homer.

We spent the afternoon exploring "The Spit". This is a 4 mile long spit of land with shops, tour companies, resataurants, etc. We spent the night at one of the City of Homer Campgrounds. On the water but not much privacy. The next morning we drove up to Ninilchuk. Saw a mother Moose with a baby!

 There was to be an unusual low tide and we had been told the Razor Clam clamming was excellent. Garry purchased a 'Clam Shovel" at a hardware store on the way there. He put on his fishing waders and walked out on the beach. Remember that there is usually a 30 foot tide here but this was a -4 tide. There were hundreds of people out clamming. He had a limit of 30 with his license and within an hour he came back with 30.  I had hurt my back so was laying low. When he got back to the camper we drove back down the highway towards Homer and found a nice pull off along the road. We backed into a nice space along the Anchor River. garry waded down to the river and washed the clams off. He then brought them back to the camper and spent the next hour cleaning them. Fried clams for dinner tonight!

There was no fishing allowed on the river where we camped. We were excited to see 4 King Salmon making their way to the spawning grounds. They had already turned bright red.

Today we had planned to take a ferry tour/excursion over to Seldovia form Homer. However I am still incapacitated with my back and it is raining. We stopped by the Hospital ER this morning and I am now drugged up so we are taking it easy today and will do the ferry tomorrow.

July 7 - Kenai Fjord Tour

The day started off 52 degrees and overcast. We donned multiple layers and raincoats and rode our bikes a half mile to a meeting spot for the kenai Fjords tour shuttle bus. We boarded the Catamaran and off we went for a 6 hour tour down Resurrection Bay and around and up into Harris Bay to see multiple Glaciers.  Within 5 minutes of leaving the dock we saw the cutest Otter just hanging out.

Rusurrection Bay was just beautiful. The rock formations were interesting. Half an hour in to the trip the rains came! Fortunately there was an inside cabin so we could get out of the rain. We went down towards the lower end of Cape Resurrection and went by a seabird rookery. Saw Cormorants, Common Murre ( the closest thing that Alaska has to Penquins), Artic Gulls and my favorite, Puffins. Some of the Murres had chicks.

 We also saw a group of Stellar Sea Lions. They don't look very big in the picture but we had seen one the day before at the Sea Life center and they can get up to 11 feet and weigh a ton. We saw 2 Humpback whales. One breached 4 times and with the last breach he almost hit the boat. The captain had to back the boat up to get out of his way. We have seen several breaching whales but it is still awesome to see.

. The weather continued to deteriorate. We saw some beautiful rock pillars one of which had a Bald Eagle sitting on top. I loved the colors in the rock.

 The boat was really feeling the wind and waves and several people got sea sick. The Captain eventually came over the loud speaker and said that the reports he was getting from boats outside was not good and for the saftety of everyone we were going to return to the Harbor and not try to get to Harris Bay. As he said - We won't get to see the Galciers but we were experiencing the beginnings of a gale in the Gulf of Alaska in the Pacific Ocean. The company  refunded

$ 50.00 to each pasenger as we didn't get the entire tour. It was raining hard when we got back to the bikes so we pedaled hard to get back to the camper! We plan on leaving tomorrow and heading around to Soldatna.

Seward, Alaska

After the excitement of the 4th we decided to stay put on the 5th. There is a 2 lane road coming and going from Seward. A lot of people were leaving this campground. That  along with untold multitudes leaving all the Seward campgrounds coupled with the fact that it started raining the night of the 4th and was still raining the next day helped us decide to stay in today. I did a lot of sewing and Garry worked on organizing pictures and doing other things with the computer. we tried to call the kids but nobody was answering.
The 6th had the usual Alaska weather - 58 degrees, grey and overcast but at least the rain had stopped.  We got our bikes out again and rode into town. We visited the Alaska Sea Life Center. This is the center that rescues and rehabilitates sea animals and sea birds. They had 2 orphaned baby Harbor seals that were in quartine and were going to be sent to Texas in a week. We were able to observe them in the rehab pool. They also had the cutest baby otter that was being nursed round the clock and that will eventually be on display at the center. We were able to see him  in the rehab center on a video screen .Since they have human contact round the clock they can not be put back in the wild. There was a marvelous Sea Bird aquarium, a huge Sea Lion pool and numerous other fish, Salmon, etc.

This is a beutiful Eider Duck. I loved the colors.

This is a Harlequin Duck.






We had lunch in town and then rode out to the Small Boat Harbor. There were lots of Sailboats here which is different as most of the Harbors we have seen have mostly had Fishing Boats.  We then stopped by the Visitor Center on the way home. While I was inside getting information about the tour we were taking the next day, Garry was approached by a man who stated that Garry looked like a nice guy and the man wanted to vent about an irate customer he had to deal with earlier in the day. Kind of bizarre but turns out he not only ran the Marathan on the 4th but his daughter, Cedar, was the woman who won the ladies race. We had a wonderful time talking with him and got lots of questions answered. We finally pedaled home and were again exhausted.  Another 5 - 6 mile trip. Tomorrow we have a tour out to the Kenai Fjords.

Seward July 5

We are in Seward  for the next 5 days, staying at the Army Resort Camp. What a nice facility with free hot showers, cheap laundry, power and water, and TV if we want it. There is also the opportunity to go on one of three MWR charter boats for bottom fishing (Halibut, yellow eye (red snapper) and other species). We rode our bikes into town on the fourth , a two mile ride, had lunch, watched the Mountain Marathon, talked to locals and had a grand time. Lets talk about the Marathon. It really is not a Marathon, but a race for juniors, women and men, all in separate times slots and races. The racers start out on Main street at 50 foot  above sea level and run up Mount marathon to the top which has  an elevation of 3228 feet and a 70-80 degree slope. It is an all out event in each of the mentioned groups. The trail? goes up thru woods, then onto a rock, shale and  mud course to the top. There is no set trail, so if you think you can get ahead of your competitors, go for it, but most follow each other to the top. You are all at each others heels, so those behind those in front are getting hit in the face with rock, mud and the feet of the person in front of them in their face and body. Once at the top the runners run around a rock, race officials take your tag number and then you head down. Let's talk about coming down. The runners then jump onto  a snow/ice field and slide on their butts down appox 800 feet of  ice field with their hands behind them at 20-30 MPH. They have on gloves with steel tips on the fingers which they use to lift them over rocks or boulder's in the ice field. At the bottom of the Ice field, is an area of shale which they can  jump over or slide  down  another several hundreds of feet until they use a trail? to continue the downward run. Then near the bottom as they come out of the tree line to civilization again, there is a rock wall that they must negotiate by jumping over, or run around. The winner will come down from the top to the finish line in 10 minutes!!!. The men winner will complete the course in 40 minutes and the woman winner in an hour. There are broken bones, lacerations, missing teeth and scrapes of all kinds and all are covered with mud. Each runner competes in a lottery each year to obtain a spot until they have completed 10 years in a row of running then they get to run each year afterwards with out going thru the lottery. The committee holds 10 slots out for 10 runners to be auctioned off the evening before the race to  the highest bidder. The dollar amounts are in the $450-550 dollar range for the slots. There is no prize money, or medals given out, only the opportunity to run and and say they made it. The race has been run  for 83 years in a row. It was started in a local bar between two guys who bet each other that they  could beat the other to the top and back again. ONLY IN ALASKA!!!!

 In the first picture, if you enlarge it, you can just make out a trail to the left of the icefield and then the one to the right. The runners come up on the left, go across the ridge to the top and then slide down the  larger ice field you can see in the picture.

While I hunt for fish, Carol is hunting for younger men!!!!!This is one of the runners. Air temp is 52 degrees!!! Boy they make them Strong in Alaska. This runner did the race in 50 minutes!

There was also a parade! Get aload of this.

The Parade Queen

This whole experience of the race, parade and talking to locals was a lot of fun. This town is a wonderful stop and full of so much to see. Everyone we have met in Alask has been warm, gracious and open about the lifestyle and what it takes to live here. It is so different than the lower 48.

July 2 - Hope

After a leisurely morning we took off for Hope. A small village of 147 people. It was 16 miles out at the end of a road. It had flourished for about 3 years @1896 as a gold rush town. By 1899 most of the miners
had joined the rush to the Klondike and it declined. Now it is the best preserved gold rush town in Southcentral Alaska. Very nice as it was well maintained. They had a wonderful restored Museaum with several old buildings including a barn, blacksmiths shed, one room schoolhouse and an old rooming house for the miners. Pictures below. However as that was the only thing worth seeing we decided to drive back up the road and stay overnight at the location where we were to meet the Outfitter in the morning for our White Water Rafting  Adventure.

July 3 we met the people from Nova River runners. We were scheduled to run 2 of the 3 canyons on the Sixmile River. This is a Class IV and V river. I have rafted in the past but never rapids rated that high. Garry and I got suited up. We were told to wear lots of layers. They gave us dry suits and special shoes to wear. We were then driven about 15 miles up river. We were then instructed to sit on the bank while the rafts were put in the water. Garry and I were dismayed to see the rafts take off without us. What???? We were then instructed that we would need to wade out into the river which was moving rather swiftly, swim to the opposite shore  all the while being swept down stream. Once we got to the other side there was a bit of an eddy and calmer water where we were to turn onto our backs, raise our legs up and ride the current down and around a corner where the guides waited. At that point we would get onto the opposite bank and then assigned a guide to go with. When garry heard about the swimming he bowed out. There was no way he could do that. I wasn't all that sure about my ability. Also that water was COOOOOOOLD! I went last. I was surprised that when i waded out into the water the dry suit actually kept me warm! So I dove in and started to swim for all I was worth. It was hard work and my hands and face were freezing! I made it however. Good for me. So I was assigned a raft and off I went. I am in the midddle in the front of the following pictures with a blue helmet on. What a riade!! The canyons were gorgeous. very narrow in spots and wild. Then we would float through  a beautiful valley before we hit more rapids. After we got through the two Class 4 I was given the option to be left off at shore where the support vehicle would pick me up. I had made it that far I decided to continue on. Oh my God! We hit the next canyon and rapids and I wondered what I had been thinking!!!!! We had to go down some "steps".We probaably dropped 5 feet several times. i was terrified/exhilarated all at the same time. As you can see in the pictures which were taken at the at the first and second canyon I frequently got a face and whole body full of water. When that happened my hands were numb. By the end of the trip my feet were cold too. At the end when we had to get out of the raft I wasn't sure I could walk my feet were so cold.  As it was my hands were freezing and I had a hard time undoing the buckles on both my helmet and the life vest.I am so glad Garry didn't go. He would not have enjoyed it. As it was he went along with the support people and saw me do the first canyon. he was amazed that after the raft disappeared frpm view in a hole and I was blasted with water that when we came back into view I was SMILING!!

So I survived. Didn't get bounced out of the raft. The dry suit did keep me dry and mostly warm. I loved it. However I am probably getting too old to risk doing this again. Afterwards Garry took me to get a hot hamburger and some hot tea to warm up. We then headed to Seward where we will spend the 4th of July.

Cooper landing - July 1

We spent one more pleasant day with John and Mary in Anchorage. Mary and I went touring gardens and  to the zoo to see  a baby musk ox. So cute when they are small. The guys went off to do whatever and we met back at the house in the late afternoon. We were all dragging a little as we had been up past midnight the day before looking at Moose! Mary fixed Moose burgers for dinner that night. It has a stronger taste than beef but is very lean.
The next morning  (June 1) we left and headed for the Kenai Peninsula. We drove along the Turnagain Arm. This was beautiful as it was high tide. At low tide, which is 30 feet, it is a huge ugly mudflat. We stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. They are another organization that does animal rescues. Here they have the large animals that have been injured, abandoned, etc. and that cannot be released back into the wild. This was a wonderful 140 acre refuge for the animals. We got really upclose and personal to the animals.

We then continued down to Whittier. This town was developed during WWII  as a port and petroleum delivery center that was connected by railroad to the mainland  and there are still some old buildings left. . It wasn't until 2000 that the Anton Anderson Tunnel was modified enough to allow vehicular traffic through the 2.5 mile long tunnel. The triangular building in the picture is the entrance in. It is very long, narrow and dark.  It is the longest highway tunnel and longest combined highway/railway tunnel in North America at 13,200 feet elevation. We were there, we had heard about it so why not drive through. It was a little nervewracking to be driving on the train tracks all the way through. It took us 11 minutes. Once we came out to the other side in the town of Whittier we explored some but it was a dismal, depressing place so we turned around and waited for our turn to drive back through. Trains have priority. Go Figure!

Then it was on to Cooper Landing.  This town sits along the Russian River which is well known for its Salmon Fishing. They were suppose to be running now. We didn't get there until late afternoon so the campground was full. There was one spot opening up and the park service had a waiting list that they would fill it from at 5:00. We were number 12. We pulled off to the side as we only had 10 minutes to wait. While we are there we see driving out our friends John and Karen (Winnebago) that we hadn't seen since Wrangall. They had done some hiking there but did not get any fish.  We did not get the space but did learn that we could park for the night in the Overflow parking Lot. (No services) for $ 4.00. Thank you Golden age pass. We spent a quiet night and the next morning we drove further into the park to the Day Use area. $5.50. We walked down along the river where there was a wonderful trail and every couple of feet there was an access to the river. Lots and lots of  people in the creek fishing. We didn't see a lot of catching however. We walked back up to the camper and Garry talked with one guy who mentioned that if we hiked up to Rainbow falls there was a path that lead down along the river and after we got past the No Fishing area there was a pool where people had good luck fishing.Ii had wanted to hike up there anyway so Garry got on his fishing gear and we set off on a 2.5 mile hike. (one way) When we finally got up there I was disappointed because the falls was more a set of rapids and there was a fish ladder there for the Salmon so I only got to see 1 actually jumping up the rapids. That is why there is no fishing there. We found the path that took off down along the river. It was an unmaintained path over rocks, tree stumps, etc. Garry started down it but with all the fishing paraphenalia he had it was going to be very difficult to traverse. He stopped, looked at me and said it wasn't worth it and so we turned around and hiked back. I felt bad for him. We were exhausted by the time we got back to the camper. We had hiked over 5 miles. We got something to eat and sat there watching lots of people head down along the river to fish. We only saw 2 come back with any fish. We had been told that some bears had been spotted in the area but we never saw any. We were deciding where to spend the night and decided that the Overflow parking lot would be just fine again. We were tooo tired to drive anywhere. We stopped by the park entrance to inquire about the possibility of spending another night there. The ranger reconized Garry and after listening to his tale of woe he said we could stay and he wouldn't charge us. So we went and parked and collapsed into bed. Tomorrow is another day.