Kenai Penn

July 7, 2011

We are now camped on the Kenai Peninsula at Skilak Lake in the Upper campground.  There are just 16 sites here with 10 more tent sites the other side of the camp.  A man told Marty earlier that there was a bear nearby because he smelled him/her.  I guess they really stink this time of the year, but we have not seen nor smelled a bear ourselves J.  Behind our campsite is a stream about 6 ft wide and maybe 8-10 in deep that tumbles over rocks on the way down to the lake.  It is a sound that will put us to sleep tonight.

We drove from just North of Whittier this morning to come here – the last 8.5 miles was decent gravel road.  Now I just lit a campfire – one of very few we have had.  While we have our screened in porch set up, we are able to sit out here by the fire without being bothered by bugs.   Tomorrow we’re going to make our way down the peninsula to Homer and find a place to camp somewhere near there.  By staying in National Forest campgrounds like tonight, we stay for anywhere from $Free to $8.00/night because I have the old geezer passcard.

Today we also booked an 8.5 hour cruise on Monday which will take us up into Kenai Fjords Natl. Park where I really do hope to spot and photograph a puffin.  I will also keep the camera handy in case we see some whales or sea lions playing around.  Then on Tuesday we’ll begin the trek back East.  We will take the Alaska highway to Dawson Creek and then head down toward Jasper and Banff Provincial Parks.  If we have time we’ll also stop in Glacier National Park.  We’ve been there twice before, but it’s always good to be back there.  I could go to these places at least once a year!

July 8, 2011

Well, we did a lot of driving today, bought groceries, ate lunch in the town of Kenai, then drove through 3 campgrounds before selecting the one we’re in tonight.  We are on the beach (very course gravel with ice cold water) in one of the AK State parks – it’s a parking lot of gravel along the Cook Inlet about 40 miles North of Homer.  A small river runs through the campground and along it this afternoon there were maybe 25 or more bald eagles watching for salmon to run upstream. 

We got to talking to two couples who had been out fishing for Halibut in their 20 ft. boat (they use tractors to put the boats in and out of the water because the “beach” is difficult to even drive a 4-wheel drive truck on).  The couples had 6 or 7 Halibut all about 25 lbs or so.  They had just completed cleaning the last one and cutting it into nice meal size pieces when they asked if we’d like a bag of it.  That was so nice!  So now we have an Alaskan Halibut meal in the freezer – got to buy some Uncle Bucks or something similar to be able to cook it up for a meal in the next day or two.

Out on the mudflats when the tide was totally out, there were also two golden eagles sitting.  It’s a little chilly to sit outside tonight but being in the truck looking out the front window I see a huge mountain range that is all snow covered.  I would guess it’s about 40-50 miles across the water to the mountains.

Our weather remains very cool and we’re glad to have a sheet, blanket and sleeping bag to put over us each night.  On this entire trip there was only one night that we didn’t use the sleeping bag!  When we hear of temperatures in the 90s in Chicago and Grand Rapids, we’re not sorry to be missing out J.

A few pics:

Marty keeps playing with bears:

Lake near where we camped just North of Whittier: