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BIRDS LIKE SALMON, TOO

We watched glaucous-winged gulls, the most common type of seagull in south central Alaska, and bald eagles eye the water and the people fishing in the river. They area as interested in salmon as bears are:

 

Mmmm . . . salmon!

The bald eagles are magnificent. I got one on its nest but couldn’t catch one in flight with my camera:

 

Yesterday Jim turned back after about 20 minutes. Cody and I kept going as far north as we could go until we ran out of trail and dry land!

CONFLUENCE OF THE RUSSIAN & KENAI RIVERS

This is part of the river that is currently closed to fishing (the sanctuary I mentioned on the last page).

 

Here's where the Russian River dumps into the turquoise-colored and much larger Kenai River:

The Russian River (on my left) empties into the even more blue Kenai River in the distance.

Looking downstream from the end of the boardwalk at the juncture of the two rivers.

A little farther west on the Sterling Hwy. at MM 55 is the sportsman access to the Russian-Kenai River confluence. There is a boat launch, a scenic overlook, and a parking area that accommodates about 180 vehicles. A ferry takes anglers across the Kenai River.

There is a rather hefty fee to park and another fee for the ferry ride. When the salmon are running well, it's a very busy place with "combat fishing" where the anglers are elbow to elbow.

The bank is higher on the other side of the river juncture. From my vantage point at the end of the trail on the east side of the Russian River I could see a couple sets of long wooden and metal steps on the far bank that allow access for fishing:

Since the confluence is closed to fishing right now I didn't see anyone on the other side.

The gulls in the next picture had the place to themselves as they scrounged for food on a little sandbar near the confluence. It appears that a couple of metal fish cleaning stands washed downstream from somewhere else:

Note how blue the Kenai River looks in the background in the photo above. That's from glacial silt. Although the Russian River looked blue along the trail I was walking it appeared more gray in comparison to the Kenai at the confluence.

THIS MORNING'S WALK ALONG THE RIVER

Today I wanted to hike to Russian River Falls, which is two or three miles upstream from the campground. I thought I could get there from the same trail I've been describing, but by going upstream instead of downstream. I was wrong.

To get to the falls I had to use a totally different trail. I did end up there eventually but I didn't figure it out until I'd gone out about half a mile along the river and came to a dead end. I met another couple hiking ahead of me who made the same mistake I did:

We all turned around when the trail ended in the river and we couldn't go any farther. That's OK. I got to the rest of the fish walk this way.

There are several more river access points for anglers in this direction (upstream) but the boardwalk soon runs out and becomes a dirt trail that undulates up and down above the water:

The trail eventually got quite muddy and dead-ended in the river.

LOTS OF FLOWERS

I took more pictures of flowers along the trail this morning. Here are a few of them:

 

 

 

If you're traveling through this area I recommend staying at the Russian River Campground and hiking the fish walk.

Even if you don't stay in the campground I highly recommend the fish walk. It's a beautiful hike in the rainforest and it's very interesting to watch the birds and anglers. And if you're lucky, you might even see a bear!

Next entry:  the Russian Lake Trail and bears fishing at Russian River Falls

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, and Cody the ultra Lab

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© 2012 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil