(Continued from p. 2.)

MORE SCENES FROM THE KENAI PENINSULA

The Kenai is a large, mountainous peninsula south of Anchorage on the Gulf of Alaska. It is surrounded by Cook Inlet to the west, Turnagain Arm to the north, and Prince William Sound to the east.

Much of the land is public -- the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Kenai Fjords National Park, Chugach National Forest, Kachemak Bay State Park, and two recreation areas. There are numerous glaciers and several humongous ice fields, some of which I showed you on the last page.

Wild roses grow prolifically on the humid Kenai Peninsula and in the Anchorage area.  (7-3-12)

There's also enough coastal and low-elevation turf to support a verdant rain-forest ecosystem. With water on nearly every side -- and the vast Pacific Ocean in the mix -- the peninsula gets a lot of moisture year-round.

The Kenai is an extremely popular destination in the summer for both tourists and residents. Touted as "Alaska's Playground," there is something for everyone to see and do, especially when it's not raining. We had so much rain when we visited the area in July that we weren't able to do all the outdoor activities we wanted to do but we still had a good time. Maybe the weather gods will be kinder to us next time.

It does make for some lush forests and beautiful flowers.

Blue geraniums along the "fish walk" at Russian River

The Kenai is especially popular in the summer/early autumn months when the salmon are running. We've learned a lot about the life cycle of salmon this summer and about the importance of the fishing industry to Alaska in general.

RUSSIAN RIVER

Our first destination on the Kenai was the Russian River-Cooper Landing area on the Sterling Highway in the northern part of the peninsula.

We camped at a nice US Forest Service campground at Russian River for a few days in early July while we waited for the holiday crowd to leave Seward. This was a good location before the salmon arrived in droves because the area wasn't packed yet.

"Alaska Fisherman," an old oil painting by Eustace Ziegler in the Anchorage Museum

Below the campground is an impressive wooden and mesh walkway along the Russian River that is designed to protect the fragile river banks from people trampling the foliage to get into the river to fish. Decks and steps allow fishermen to access the water in designated spots.

It was fun to follow the fish walk and watch wildlife, see all the lush rainforest plants, and learn more about salmon fishing. In this area the method of catching salmon is the traditional way of standing next to or in the water with a pole and line.

Ostrich ferns grow 4-5 feet tall along the elevated fish walk at Russian River.  (7-2-12)

We saw many fish walks, decks, and stairways along other popular salmon fishing streams on the Kenai Peninsula, too.

We found some great trails to ride and hike in this area, including one to Russian River Falls:

There are two large decks overlooking the falls and a fish weir below the falls that helps count salmon as they swim upstream to spawn in the summer.

Where there are salmon, there are bears. Bears love to eat salmon.

One of the more lucrative Alaskan businesses in the summer is transporting visitors to locations where they are most likely to see brown (grizzly) bears in the middle of streams, plucking salmon out of the water. (Transporting fishermen to good fishing locations is even more lucrative.)

Russian River Falls is one of the inexpensive, accessible places in Alaska to watch bears fish. One day I watched as a mama grizzly repeatedly went into the water to catch salmon. Here she's standing at the base of the weir, watching protectively as her cubs enter the river below the falls:

Because of the crowd of onlookers up on the deck I wasn't able to see mama actually catch a fish but I had a great view of the two young cubs (born this spring) as one tried to emulate mama and the other just watched:

Check out the claws on those cubs! Adult brown bears have five-inch claws
to help them dig for roots, ground squirrels ("bear burritos"), etc.   (7-3-12)

Aren't they cute? They should be better at fishing by the end of summer.

Various kinds of birds, including bald eagles, also hang out in areas where bears and people are fishing. They eat the remains of the fish when pieces are left behind. At the falls, along rivers, and on the coast we had almost as much fun watching the birds wait for tasty fish morsels as watching the bears and people vying for the fish.

Bald eagle at Russian River Falls   (7-2-12)

Even with a 16-megapixel camera with 16x zoom lens I couldn't get great close-ups of eagles perched high up in trees or flying overhead.

Here's another bald eagle at much closer range:

He's one of two injured eagles in a large outdoor enclosure at JBER (Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson) in Anchorage.

We saw numerous eagles in trees and in the air throughout Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. Like glaciers, I'll never tire of seeing these magnificent birds.

THE ART OF CATCHING SALMON

There are other interesting ways of catching salmon in Alaska besides using a fishing pole.

We managed to hit the western side of the peninsula in mid-July on the opening day of the dip-net season. That was not a good thing for non-fishermen like us but we made the best of it.

This summer we pretty much determined where we'd camp at each destination a few days before we got there -- or when we got there. That gave us more flexibility but on the Kenai Peninsula it greatly limited our choices of where to stay because so many other people were there to fish and it seemed like most of them were in beat-up campers.

One of the ways to catch salmon is with a fish wheel. This one is on the Kasilof River.  (7-13-12)

We ended up staying several days at a nice-but-inexpensive private campground in Kasilof, part way down the western side of the peninsula. We drove up the coast on two day trips to the towns of Kenai and Soldotna and the Capt. Cook State Recreation Area and one day down the coast to Homer and points between.

In Kenai we found a park on a bluff above the mouth of the Kenai River into Cook Inlet. Below us hundreds of dip-netters were standing near the shore, dipping their five-foot diameter nets into the water in an attempt to catch their allotment of salmon:

Dip-net fishing is only open to Alaska residents, by the way. And to operate a fish wheel you'd pretty much have to live there, too.

Numerous "Outsiders" (what everyone who doesn't live in Alaska is called!) visit Alaska to fish for salmon with a line, however. This summer was frustrating for many of them.

I don't know if the salmon industry/sport is as big anywhere else in the world as it is in Alaska. I do know it's big up here. In addition to 1) the folks who make their living commercially by selling fish and offering fishing trips to visitors and residents, you also have 2) numerous sport-fishing residents and tourists who swarm to the best fishing streams every summer, and 3) subsistence fishermen/women who rely on dried/smoked salmon to feed themselves during the long winter. The latter group includes a lot more state residents than just Native Alaskans, who have been practicing subsistence fishing and hunting for 14,000 years.

That's a lot of conflicting interests for the Alaska Fish & Game Department to satisfy when there aren't enough fish to go around.

View of Kachemak Bay and the Homer Spit from a high point in the funky little town of Homer.
Those are cow parsnips in the foreground; they can grow 6-8 feet tall along the coast.  (7-14-12)

The agency had particular problems this summer because some of the salmon runs, particularly kings, were in historically short supply and no one, even subsistence fishermen, could catch them in certain areas. They have to let enough salmon live to reproduce or no one will be catching any fish in subsequent years.

Salmon fishing is cyclical but this year there seemed to be an unusually low number of some of the types of salmon returning to spawn.

That didn't prevent locals and tourists from mobbing the Kenai Peninsula in July, however. One night our best option for a camping spot was this very large, very beautiful overlook along the Sterling Highway east of Tern Lake:

Free, scenic spot to spend the night (which never really got dark in early July)

After we parked there two other RVs pulled in behind us and spent the night!

There are numerous overlooks and parking areas along the highways in Alaska (and the Yukon) where you can safely spend the night in a camper. We did this only three or four times in Alaska this summer, however, and only in transit. We never unhooked to go explore an area unless we were in a real campground of some sort.

Here's another picture from Homer:

Pretty flowers in front of the lodge at the Bear Creek Winery in Homer   (7-14-12)

I'd read about the rhubarb wines from Bear Creek Winery in some Alaska travel blogs and wanted to visit the place.

We arrived on a Saturday when they weren't doing tours (probably out fishing!) but we were able to walk around the beautiful grounds and see all the berry bushes and giant rhubarb plants. Apparently grapes suitable for wine don't grow in this climate. However, many kinds of berries are prolific. What this winery does is blend their own berries and/or rhubarb with wine they purchase elsewhere, then let it ferment. They've come up with some very tasty combinations.

THE RUSSIAN INFLUENCE

I'll save the history lesson for an entry later on about the large cultural and economic influence the Russians have had on many aspects of life in Alaska.

One of that country's legacies is the Russian Orthodox religion, particularly on the Kenai Peninsula. I'd seen several photos of picturesque churches and wanted to visit them. The unique architecture of old Russian Orthodox churches, particularly the ornate domes, and some of the customs -- such as no seats in the sanctuary -- are quite interesting.

One of the more photogenic Russian Orthodox churches is located in the town of Kenai. This church is the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary:

There are also interesting old Russian Orthodox churches in Ninilchik and Eklutna that I'll show in a later entry.

The cemeteries at these churches are unique, too -- especially these at Eklutna, a small town north of Anchorage:

These colorful little wooden structures built over graves are called "spirit houses." They are on the grounds of an old Russian Orthodox church and a newer sanctuary used by the modern congregation. Several historical buildings have been added to the site for visitors to see.

It was fascinating to walk among the spirit houses in this cemetery. I'll show more of them later. Some are very simple, some quite elaborate.

Also interesting is the fact that the spirit houses are an influence of Native Alaskans on the Russian Orthodoxy -- two cultures blended together, incorporating beliefs and practices from each.

OTHER DAY TRIPS FROM THE ANCHORAGE AREA

We stayed at JBER (Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson) on the north edge of Anchorage three separate times for about two weeks each in June, July, and August. While there, we did a lot of day trips. That was easier than constantly moving the camper.

Some of our trips were north to Eklutna and Eagle River. In addition to historical sites, both areas also have good trails to hike and ride.

The next picture shows Eklutna Lake from about 2,000 feet above it on the Twin Peaks Trail:

Looking down at Eklutna Lake from Twin Peaks   (7-25-12)

Those are the rugged Chugach Mountains surrounding the 12-mile long lake. It was interesting to get that perspective several days after riding our bikes right next to the water along the north shore for seven miles:

From the trail at lake's edge you can see Twin Peaks in the distance.  (7-20-12)

I'll show a few more trail photos from the Chugach Mountains close to JBER on the next page.

The town of Palmer, a little farther north of Anchorage, has some interesting places to visit, too. Palmer is located in the very fertile agricultural area called the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Valley. It was originally colonized by Scandinavian farmers from the upper Midwest during the Great Depression in a socio-economic experiment that went well. Many of their descendents continue to live here today.

We did two day trips from Anchorage to the Talkeetna Mountains north of Palmer.

One day we followed the Little Susitna River up the paved part of Hatcher Pass Road to Independence Mine State Historical Park and explored all the buildings left from this large mining operation:

When we visited the mine and the pass I noted some trailheads. I returned another day to hike toward the headwaters of the Little Su on the Gold Mint Trail:

This is another glacial stream that is a beautiful blue color. Notice how bright green all the willows and low shrubs are at the end of July. Many flowers were also in bloom.

Another place we visited near Palmer is the Musk Ox Farm, one of the more interesting tours we've done in Alaska. Musk ox have been around since the Pleistocene Age and continue to roam freely in northern Alaska. These are contained in a farm setting, however:

Above and below: musk oxen, ancestors of Ice Age survivors

Native Alaskan women in the Oomingmak Cooperative knit warm garments from the fine wool (qiviut) of these animals and sell them in Anchorage and other places. We visited their little store in Anchorage. The scarves and other items are unbelievably soft, very beautiful, and very, very expensive.

Continued on the next page -- more scenes from Anchorage and Denali National Park, including lots of wildlife photos

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