My Alaskan Adventure!: October 2006

Number Three in My Top Ten Favorite Things About My Alaskan Adventure - Canoeing!

Pat and Melissa have two canoes and they are very proficient at portaging the beautiful lake systems on the Kenai. They brought one of the canoes from Kansas and recentily purchased a beautiful new one in Alaska.

There were two great adventures we got to experience while in their canoes; one was the Swanson River float made by Pat and Phil. This is a 24 mile, overnight, float from the launch point to Cook Inlet. Once you begin the float there is no turning back. This beautiful river was boiling with silver salmon and troat and very popular with the local bruin population. They made a memory, indeed, facing the "wild" and conquoring the elements, literally! The second was an absolutely incredible Sunday afternoon portaging the Kenai lake system. Pat wrote great stories about both. Paleeze click on the "Pat and Melissa's blog" link on the right
and then click on the August Archive for "riviting" accounts of both and additional pictures. THE ABSOLUTE BEST PARTS OF THIS ENTRY ARE CONTAINED ON THAT SIGHT AND I JUST CAN'T IMPROVE ON PAT'S WRITING SKILLS! Except: The salmon he caught from his canoe weighted 5.5 pounds!

Number Four in my Top Ten Favorite Things About My Alaskan Trip - Salmon Fishing!!

I don't fish. I've never fished. But I really enjoyed watching the fishing and eating the fish. "Flipping for Salmon" or as it is affectionately called, "Combat Fishing" is fun to watch. To avid anglers, fishing the Kenai is the ultimate fishing experience, and I just sat and watched! We fished on the Kenai right at the city of Kenai where Pat lives and on the confluent of the Kenai and Russian Rivers.

Combat fishing got its name from the crowded conditions during salmon run. Not only did the anglers compete for good holes on the Kenai and Russian with other anglers, they had to be aware of bears fishing in the same area. These pictures were shot on a day when nine bears had been spotted in the area. Our guys saw them on the bank several times. You can click on the link to Pat and Melissa's blog and go to July Archive. There you can not only see some great fishing pictures during the peak of the season, you can see a picture of Pat standing in the middle of the river fishing and an Alaskan brown (grizzly) bear eating a fish on the bank! Fishermen were required to have their catch and lunch no more than an arm's length from them or be liable for a $300.00 fine!

Son, Pat and son-in-law, Rusty fish the Russian.

Some nice reds!

We fished for three kinds of salmon: red, silver and pink:

Red salmon or sockeye salmon are silver or iridescence while in the ocean and begin to turn red prior to spawning. Once they turn red, they are not worth keeping. The dark red ones in the pictures will be returned to the river as they are too "mature" to keep. They would be mushy to eat.

Silver or coho salmon are the most acrobatic when caught and fun to catch - so they say. They do begin to turn darker before spawning and become less edible. Both sockeye and cohos are most desirable to catch. The guys caught silvers when they floated the Swanson River.

Pink salmon, although not nearly as acrobatic as the Silver or as tasty as a Red, are still fun to catch and the large females can be good smoked or canned. The locals don't even bother to keep them. Interestingly, they only come to spawn on even numbered years. Phil caught them in abundance on the Kenai - probably twenty in one day but most were males and we decided we didn't want any more. They are heavy to pack up the trail and are a lot of waste. We did smoke a large batch of them and I would have canned some had I known how easy it would be and how abundant they were. Pat taught me how to smoke them. Smoking actually included pickling in a brine, smoking and then dehydrating them.
We also filleted one and fried up chunks for several days. It was very "tender and mild in taste". It was delicious! I don't care what those spoiled Alaskans said!

An afternoon's catch on the Kenai River included reds and pinks

This silver and the rainbow were caught on a lake. This is a neat story! Log on again in the near future to read it! By the way, I like to show this picture and say, "Pat's fish (to the left) and Dad's fish (to the right!)

On Quartz Creek

Between our halibut and our salmon, we had a nice mess of fish to cart home! This is what we did: Each night we took our daily catch (as most do) to the local packer who fillets them, flash freezes them and vacuum seals them. They will keep them until you pick them up or have them ship it home. We purchased a small freezer which rode home in our pick-up. Several times a day we would plug it in to our 5th wheel while our generator was running. This worked quite nicely and was less expensive (even after purchasing the freezer) than having it shipped.

Log on soon for My Top Ten Number Four - Salmon Fishing!

One more great hike!

"Exit Glacier, the only area of Kenai Fjords National Park accessible by car, is one of thirty-five glaciers that flow off the vast Harding Icefield. The Icefield is the largest in North America, and it remains as a 300 square mile vestige of the last ice age. In this park intrepid hikers can not only trek to Exit Glacier; they can also venture up a strenuous trail to the Harding Icefield. "

From the visitor's center we headed out onto the paved trail, a quarter mile path where you will notice signs posted along the side that are labeled with years. These represent where the terminus of the glacier existed in that era, and it is amazing to note just how far it has retreated. In fact, it is believed that the glacier once extended all the way to the town of Seward, almost 8 miles away.

At the end of the paved path you will see a kiosk containing displays about the glacier and the local fauna. Beyond the kiosk, you have your choice of three trails, The Lower Loop, The Upper Loop, and The Nature Trail. The first trail, Lower Loop Trail, a half mile loop, leads to the outwash plain at the face of the glacier, towering chunks of blue and white ice.

Several signs are posted near the glacier’s face warning of the potential danger associated with getting to close, and yet several people waltz right up and stand directly below the massive chunks of ice. risking being crushed by a calving glacier,

Continuing on towards the Upper Loop Trail, a 1 mile loop, the views become even more spectacular.

Along this hike you gain some elevation and by so doing are able to see the glacier from a higher vantage point. Steps made from rock and wood help to make the 100 foot climb a little less taxing. From the top you can see huge crevasses and towering seracs juxtaposed against a beautiful mountain, the view is out of this world. The vastness of Exit Glacier is unbelievable, and for those who climb to the Harding Icefield the views become even more fantastic.

The hike up to the Harding Icefield is a strenuous, 7.7 mile roundtrip, hike that gains 3000 feet. That is just a little over 1000ft per mile, making the trail very steep and suitable only for hikers in good condition.

Phil was in a different "MOOD" and had other things on his mind!

Hiker's Heaven - Almost

This was another great place to take a hike! There was, as usual, an abundance of salmon spawning, along with beaver ponds, and bears galore. One area was closed off due to the bear activity. We spotted a large black bear through our binoculars and watched him roam around on a rock for quite sometime.

This probably won't impress anyone too much, but the little black dot slightly to the right at the top of the outcropping (rock)is a black bear. We could watch him quite clearly through our binoculars. Later we learned you can put your camera up to the binoculars and take a picture that way. I've yet to try it.

Top Ten Favorite Things About My Alaska Adventure - Number Five

Hiting the Trail!

It is, no doubt, humanly impossible to put a number to the miles of trails one can hike in Alaska. There are countless primative trails but many of the trails are quite groomed and civilized! One thing of note: Many places require that you carry a gun before hitting the trail like the .44 mag pistol Pat carried. My favorite hike was up to Russian Falls. This is a two plus mile hike leaving near the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers. The area is HEAVILY inhabited by bears. The previous week before our hike a sow brown (Alaskan grizzly) with three cubs charged a man. We saw plenty of bear sign but no bear. We also saw very large moose tracks. At the top of the trail is a wonderful bridge by a falls which created a fish ladder. The spawning salmon were a sight!

Moose hoof print next to Pat's size 11 shoe.

Bears can be seen in the island catching jumping salmon as they maneuver up the falls.

The red seen here are salmon.

News Flash!

Melissa posted her great moose photos taken from her kitchen window! To see them click Pat & Melissa's Blog link at the right of the screen! But come back soon!

Moosies!!!

I didn't give those majestic creatures enough attention in my "Top 10- Number 7", so here I go. We saw eleven moose on our trip. A young bull sauntered through our parking area twice while we stayed in Kenai along with numerous sightings, however brief along the side of the road. (Sighting moose on the road is rather tense while we are driving. I am grabbing for my camera, almost always getting it too late, while Phil is braking and holding his breath we don't have road kill a la moose!)

My favorite encounter with a moose, however was this bull we observed for quite awhile, eating his breakfast in a pond. I love to get up early and on the road just before daybreak. I am convinced there are rewards for those who do. My husband, on the other hand, says I'm the "perfect cure for a good night's rest!" This particular morning I drug his grumpy body out of bed and into the truck telling him there were critters out there waiting to say "good morning" to us and won't be there after eight o'clock. The night before we had driven the worst stretch of road on the entire trip, actually, the ONLY truly difficult stretch. It was eighteen miles of gravel and slimy dirt south of Tok where the road was being resurfaced. So getting on the road before the road crew was there to hold us up had its benefits, also.

This wonderful beast was my hero! Not only did we get quite a thrill watching him, I was able to say to my sleepy hubby, "I told you so!!"

Top 10 Favorite Things About My Alaskan Adventure - Number 6

Parking my 5th wheel in the most incredible places!!

I get a kick out of people who purchase a multi-gazillion dollar RV and then pay to park it side by side with another multi-gazillion dollar rig in what I call "Refugee Camps for the Rich and Foolish!" In our eleven thousand mile trip we stayed in only one such park (actually, that was near Albuquerque). Most of the time we boondocked and some of the time in campgrounds - amazing campgrounds. Here are four of my favorites. KOA - Eat your heart out! By the way, our 5th wheel didn't cost a gazillion dollars, either, just in case I left that impression!

Homer Spit on Kenai Penninsula:

We parked on the Homer Spit, a narrow isthmas in the middle of Kachemak Bay. This picture was taken from a viewpoint on top of Baycrest Hill overlooking Homer. (From that sight one can savor the panorama of Kachemak Bay, the Homer Spit and the mountains and glaciers beyond - unbelievable!) One can fainty see the 4.5 mile strip of land down in the bay. It contains the a quaint fishermen's villiage and space enough to park right up next to the water. If you look close enough you "might" see us backed up to the water - then again, you might not!.

Muncho Lake, BC (Strawberry Creek Campground):

"Gee, I sure wish we could have parked at an RV Park!"

It was from this place I took one of my favorite pictures of our trip - stay blogged on to see it soon!

Seward, AK

Seward, AK, on the southeast side of the Kenai Penninsula was another great place to park. At the city campground you could back right up to the water. This picture was take at the back of the 5th wheel. We watch eagles perch on the pilings (see previous blog), salmons put on a jumping show, carefree sea otter float by, a cruise ship dock at the end of the bay while boats of all kinds come in and out of the bay.

Upper Gnat Lake on the Cassier Highway in British Columbia:

After a day of driving some pretty treacherous stretches of the Cassier Highway we were anxious to find a place to boondock. We came upon this most beautiful little lake with little campsites around it. We backed out on a small peninsula of the lake. That evening we took a walk to enjoy the crisp air and fall colors. Our exhileration was increased when a herd of pack horse came by.