Destination: Kenai Peninsula Alaska

Monday, 7 July,  Day 35 of Journey
61°

From Anchorage, we followed the east side of the Cook Inlet as we headed south to the Turnagain Arm Inlet. Then we picked up the Seward Highway and made a sweeping turn to the west to the Kenai Peninsula. We were looking for white whales as we traveled the inlet. The Cook Inlet beluga whale is a genetically distinct and geographically isolated population that remains year round in Cook Inlet for mating, rearing, and feeding. Like the legendary Moby Dick, the full-grown beluga whale is snowy white. BTW, we did not spot any whales.

Cook Inlet and whale watching

Turnagain Arm

The Cook Inlet is named for a British explorer, Captain James Cook, who toured the area in 1778 in his quest for the Northwest Passage. Our destination was the little community of Nikiski, 173 miles south of Anchorage. Our friends Dee and Lee have a furniture store in the village of Kenai, which is 3 miles from their home in Nikiski. The Kenai Peninsula is known as Alaska’s playground and is a major sport fishing destination for tourists.

Girdwood eatery

Glacier viewing

On the way, it was interesting to note that the Turnagain road we were traveling on had dropped 10 feet in the 1964 earthquake.  We passed by one of seven glaciers that can be seen nestled in the peaks off in the distance. The ice in the glacier shows up as a greenish-blue.

We met Lee and Dee at their place of business in Kenai. They had recently opened a higher end furniture store and were building a clientele. We knew them from our winter journeys in Texas and they had invited us to come visit them when we made it to Alaska. They offered us an opportunity to stay at their place in the country, with electrical and water hook ups.

We saw this moose cow and calf on our way to Lee and Dee's.

After Lee and Dee closed the store, we followed them home, and they warned us to be on the lookout for moose on the highway and on the access roads to their place.  We did see moose crossing the road on the short drive. After a great evening sitting on their deck and enjoying a Kenai meal, Dee and Lee advised us to be alert walking the 40 yards from their house to the camping spot on their property. It seems that several moose like to enjoy the unfenced hospitality of their garden.  

Dee and Lee

Deck critters

Furry and feathery ones

Alaskan salmon, shrimp,scallops and crab

July 9, Day 37


The next morning, we saw and photographed two yearling moose headed for the vegetables.

Picture taken out the back of our TC just before we were to step out

One day we took a quick trip to the Captain Cook State Park, named for the English mariner mentioned previously.  I was fascinated by the large expanse of mudflats. We were cautioned that these mudflats, which are created by the outgoing tides, can become like quicksand.  The tides can move 4 times faster than a person can run, and have caused 2 deaths in recent history.

It was a cloudy day in the state park, but across the inlet we could see four tall mountains covered in snow. These were volcanoes in the Aleutian chain, two of which are active.

The foreground white objects are icebergs.  Oil platform in the background.

Of course we found a visitor center to checkout.

There is a lot of water everywhere in this part of Alaska. At the visitors’ center, I discovered that globally, wetlands cover 9% of the land base. In Alaska, 85% of the state is covered with wetlands, as is over 40% of the western Kenai Peninsula.  Wetlands provide flood control, clean water, erosion control, and habitats for plants and animals.  Recreation is a key benefit of being in this area. We got hungry while wondering around town and were told to go to the burger bus to eat.  It really is a bus. Service is slower than molasses but worth it.

Near where Dee and Lee lived we found a local brewery in a field in the woods. It was a very small affair with ten brews now and even a smaller staff. Our server was loading trucks when we go there. He knew so much about the beer here that I thought he had been there a long time. Turns out only a few months. His lifelong dream was to be a brewer. He had come from the lower 48 only a short time to this new upstart brewery. He was living his dream.

The dream catcher.

Meanwhile back in Kenai:

Kenai River from the bluff

The visitor center and historical center is near a bluff that overlooks the Kenai River inlet.  The Dena'ina people lived in this part of Alaska long before the first Russian explorers came to the area in 1741. The Russians built a fort and established a fur and fish trading post.  There is also a log rectory from 1886 and a church from 1895 that is one of the oldest standing Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska.

The structures represent the typical style of Russian architecture of the western frontier. The buildings are very unique in their design. The basic structure is shaped rectangular longs covered in what is called ship design siding.  This architecture is called Pskov after a city in Russia where it is prominent.

Daisy and I took a trip around the town of Kenai to check out its early history. Of course we went to the tourist bureau and local museum. Near the shore, a specific group of five structures had been placed. The five homes are actually cabins from Kenai’s historic past that had been dismantled and numbered to be rebuilt in one location. 

One of the cabins dated back to 1898, and the others were built in the early 1900s.

Also reconstructed in this area was the first territorial school. 

The building had 3 rooms on the main floor and the upstairs was divided into two apartments and a bathroom. The outhouse for the students was behind the building. There was a wood-fired boiler that provided heat in the winter. We were informed that 50 cords of wood was needed to supply the main school floor. Each of the apartments upstairs had its own heating stove.

All were constructed by families who homesteaded the Kenai area.

An interesting feature about this cabin in that in the process of dismantling the logs in the Scandinavian cabin it was discovered that a ladies bra was used to chink the logs.

July 10, Day 38

The Kenai River is home to the world record King Salmon, weighing in at 97 pounds. Fishermen use heavy gear when fishing for Kings. Daisy and I came equipped to fish for some finny creatures, but nothing like this. When the runs of these fish are on, the anglers are standing so close to each other that it is termed “combat fishing.” We weren’t interested in that kind of fishing.

We got to Kenai just as the Sockeye run was about to begin. At this time, hundreds of Red Salmon enter the Kenai River over several weeks, trying to make it to their historical spawning grounds. That means this is the time for people to stock their freezers for the long Alaska winters. I found it interesting to note the fishing technique is not one of enticing these tired salmon to strike at your lure, because they are not interested in eating at this point in their journey.  These salmon are moving upstream with mouths constantly opening and closing. If you are fishing with a rod and reel, you flip out upstream a 15 foot section of 30 pound line to which there is attached a weighted sinker, leader, and attractant with hook. You then let the river current drift your presentation downstream, bumping off the bottom.  When your leader passes through a Sockeye’s mouth, you set the hook as you sweep up the rod at the end of the drift.  The trick is that the fish must be hooked only in the mouth. If it is hooked anywhere else, it must be released.  I observed dozens of people standing in hip deep water, too close to each other for my comfort, working the runs. When someone hooked a fish, the fun was just starting.

There was also another style of salmon fishing that only Alaska residents could do, but I got to watch from shore. It was called dip netting. This fishing is only for personal use, referred to as subsistence fishing.  The resident stands in the Kenai River holding a very large net with a long handle and allows the fish to swim in, then nets it.  The nets I saw were about 5 feet in diameter and the handles were 18 feet long. Once the salmon are in the net, the angler drags them up to the shore for processing, which begins by killing the fish with a blow to the head with a bat. Then the fish is degilled, gutted, and filleted. The key to freshness is to process the fish as quickly as possible for better flavor.

After observing this process, I do not know if you could call this a sport activity, but it is effective for those who depend on the fish to get them through the winter. The bag limit for dip netting is 25 salmon and 10 flounder for the permit holder and 10 salmon for each additional household member.  Dip netting results were poor at the time we were there.

We took one evening and visited a local watering hole and had the opportunity to hear a popular local balladeer who writes and sings songs of Alaska.

Hobo Jim, Alaska's state official balladeer

The highball glasses here are slanted

On our way home after dinner and the show, it was still daylight out.  We had opportunity to share the road with moose again, which is a normal occurrence in this part of the Kenai.

The next day we headed for Homer Spit, the "end of the road."